BATON ROUGE ? After going 2-2 last week, including a pair of wins by Emily Turner over then No. 1-ranked Tennessee, LSU moved up to No. 4 in the ESPN/USA Softball poll and Turner was named the USA Softball National Player of the Week, it was announced on Tuesday.
A senior All-American from Chula Vista, Calif., Turner went 2-0 on the week with two wins over the top-ranked Lady Vols, snapping Tennessee’s 25-game winning streak. The right-handed pitcher earned a complete-game 5-1 win in the nightcap of the Saturday doubleheader. She came back to earn a 3-2 win in the rubber match and seal LSU’s series victory.
“What a great honor for Emily at this unique time in the season,” said LSU head coach Yvette Girouard. “This is an honor not only for her, but for our entire program and our fans after the fantastic atmosphere that was created by them against Tennessee. Emily begged me for the ball all week and was very confident in her ability to match up with the Vols.”
In her first outing, Turner allowed a single run in the top of the first inning, before holding Tennessee’s high powered offense, which ranks fifth in the NCAA in hitting, scoreless over the next 10 straight innings. In the fifth inning of Sunday’s game, she gave up one run, before allowing a seventh inning run.
In 13.1 innings on the week, she allowed just nine hits as the Lady Vols were held to a .196 average against her, down from the .334 season average Tennessee came into the series with. In addition, she gave up only three runs while striking out seven for a 1.58 earned run average over the week as she improved to 17-5 on the season.
“This honor is a reflection of the team’s performance all weekend,” said Turner. “The games were so close and without the run support I received and the resilience of this team, this award would not have been possible. We also had amazing fan support. Beating the No. 1 team in the country in front of the best fans in the nation made this weekend the best of my life. I will always remember this weekend and hopefully we can keep the good things coming.”
Turner now owns all three of LSU’s victories over a No. 1-ranked team. She earned the Tigers’ first win over a top-ranked team with an NCAA Super Regional victory over eventual national champion Arizona last season. With the two wins over No. 1 Tennessee this season, she is now 3-2 all-time against top ranked teams.
This is the second USA Softball National Player of the Week honor for Turner’s career. She earned the same honor on April 18 of last season after a pair of wins over then No. 2-ranked Alabama. She is also the first LSU player to earn multiple USA Softball National Player of the Week honors in her career, as former Tiger All-American and 2004 Women’s College World Series MVP Kristin Schmidt earned the award once during her senior season.
LSU has been ranked in 67 of the 76 (.882) ESPN/USA Softball polls. The Tigers have now been ranked in the top 10 for 36 weeks in the poll’s history. LSU’s highest national ranking in school history was No. 2 in the ESPN/USA Softball poll on two occasions during the 2004 season.
SEC rival Alabama moved up to No. 1 in the poll this week, bumping Tennessee out of the top spot after 11 straight weeks as the Lady Vols fell to No. 2. Oklahoma came in third, just three points ahead of LSU. Rounding out the top 10 are Arizona, Texas A&M, Baylor, Northwestern Arizona State and Michigan.
The Pac-10 still leads the way with seven of its eight teams ranked in the top 25, followed by the Big 12 with five ranked teams and the SEC and ACC with three teams each. For the first time in conference history, however, the SEC has three teams ranked in the top 4 nationally. The Big 12 has three teams ranked in the top 10, while the Pac-10 and Big 10 both have two teams in the top 10.
The Tigers are now tied with the Lady Vols and the Crimson Tide in the SEC standings with identical 21-4 marks and three games remaining. LSU controls its own destiny when it heads to Georgia, as the Tigers own the tie breakers over both Tennessee and Alabama after taking 2-of-3 from both this season. Tennessee and Alabama play next weekend in Knoxville, and LSU needs only to match the series winner’s record to capture at least a share of its sixth conference title in 11 years. If the Tigers were to sweep Georgia and the Alabama-Tennessee series not go as a sweep for either team, LSU would capture the SEC title outright.
The Tigers will face the Bulldogs in a three game series, beginning with a doubleheader on Saturday at 1 p.m. CT and concluding with a single game on Sunday at 1 p.m. CT. LSU will then participate in the SEC Tournament the following weekend in Auburn, Ala. The three-day single elimination tournament will give one of the eight participating teams an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament before the field is announced on Sunday, May 13.
The ESPN.com/USA Softball poll is voted on by NCAA Division I coaches representing 15 different Amateur Softball Association regions and 11 different collegiate conferences. The poll is also voted on by selected softball media members.
2007 ESPN.com/USA Softball Top 25 Poll
Rank Team 2007 Record Points PVS
1. Alabama (17) 50-4 489 2
2. Tennessee (1) 51-4 470 1
3. Oklahoma (1) 49-6 456 3
4. LSU (1) 48-8 453 5
5 Arizona 35-10-1 428 4
6 Texas A&M 39-8 385 6
7. Baylor 43-12 357 8
8. Northwestern 41-10 355 10
9. Arizona State 45-13 340 7
10 Michigan 40-9 338 9
11. DePaul 35-7 295 11
12. UCLA 33-13 280 12
13. Washington 32-13 271 13
14. Hawaii 45-9 230 15
15. Stanford 31-14-1 216 16
16. Oregon State 36-17 192 14
17. Virginia Tech 42-14 174 18
18. Missouri 36-20 137 21
19. Georgia Tech 49-13 131 20
20. Oregon 39-14 118 17
21. Southern Illinois 37-11 86 19
22. Illinois State 39-13-1 68 22
23. Texas 33-16 61 23
24. UL-Lafayette 42-13 47 24
25. NC State 42-17 27 25
Parenthesis denotes first place votes
Others Receiving Votes: Fresno State (20), Florida (18), Ohio State (18), Creighton (9), Nebraska (6), Cal (5), Florida State (4), Cal State Fullerton (3), Kansas (3), Cal Poly (2), North Carolina (1).