BATON ROUGE — After coming in at No. 12 in the ESPN/USA Softball poll on Tuesday, the LSU softball team remained at No. 10 in the in the NFCA/USA Today poll, it was announced on Wednesday.
After beginning the year at No. 9 in the preseason NFCA poll, LSU (25-4) had moved as high as No. 7 two weeks ago before falling to No. 10 a week ago. Last week, the Tigers took a mid-week game from McNeese State, 7-1, at Tiger Park. LSU then opened SEC play on the road, taking 2-of-3 from Ole Miss, dropping the first game, 2-1, before winning the final two, 2-0 in nine innings and 4-0.
The Tigers have now been ranked for 20 straight weeks after having their streak of 103 consecutive weeks snapped on March 30, 2005, a streak that dated back to Feb. 28, 1998. In all, LSU has been ranked in 124 of the 145 polls (.856) that have been released since the program was reinstated in 1997. The Tigers have also been ranked in the top 10 for 79 weeks in the program’s history.
SEC rival Tennessee remained at No. 1, while Arizona State moved up to No. 2. Texas A&M took over the third spot, and Alabama is in fourth as Arizona dropped from second to fifth. Rounding out the Top 10 are Oklahoma, Northwestern, Texas, Michigan and LSU.
The Pac-10 still leads the way with all eight teams ranked in the top 25, followed by the SEC with five ranked teams and the Big 12 with five ranked teams. Among the five SEC teams in the top 25, three are in the top 10, including Tennessee, Alabama and LSU. Georgia comes in at No. 18 and Florida is ranked 19th.
The NFCA/USA Today poll is voted on by NCAA Division I head coaches representing each conference.
This weekend, the Tigers will open SEC play at home against nationally ranked Florida in a three-game series beginning on Saturday with a doubleheader at 1 p.m. and concluding with a single game on Sunday at 1 p.m. The Gators have knocked off a pair of No. 1-ranked teams this year when Florida defeated then No. 1 Arizona earlier in the year and No. 1 Tennessee last Saturday.
The games have been added to the radio broadcast listing and will be broadcast in Baton Rouge on The X ? 104.5/104.9 FM and also in the Geaux Zone on LSUsports.net. In addition, all three games will have live streaming video available in the Geaux Zone. The final game of the series will also be televised live on Cox Sports Television in Baton Rouge on cable channel 37.
NFCA/USA Today Coaches Poll
Rank School Record Pts. Pvs.
1. Tennessee (27) 24-1 747, 1
2. Arizona State (2) 27-2 710 3
3. Texas A&M 21-2 663 4
4. Alabama (1) 24-0 660 4
5. Arizona 17-5 650 2
6. Oklahoma 28-1 608 6
7. Northwestern 15-5 550 7
8. Texas 20-3 532 8
9. Michigan 20-1 524 9
10. LSU 24-4 443 10
11. UCLA 21-6 434 12
12. Washington 18-4 412 11
13. Stanford 21-5 397 13
14. Baylor 24-5 387 16
15. Oregon State 15-9 284 14
16. Oregon 24-3 278 17
17. UL-Lafayette 24-6 244 15
18. Georgia 22-8 195 21
19. Florida 19-10 191 19
20. Southern Illinois 18-5 168 18
21. Illinois State 19-5 149 22
22. Georgia Tech 25-5 125 20
23. Hawaii 23-5 95 NR
24. Florida State 18-8 53 25
25. California 18-10 46 23
Others Receiving Votes:
N.C. State 45, Fresno State 44, DePaul 30, Cal State Fullerton 21, Nebraska 15, South Carolina 14, Virginia Tech 8, North Carolina 8. Eight others received one vote each.