BATON ROUGE — A day after being named the USA Softball National Player of the Week on Tuesday, LSU senior Emily Turner picked up her second honor of the week as she was named the NFCA/Louisville Slugger National Player of the Week while the Tiger moved up two spots to No. 4 in the NFCA/USA Today poll, it was announced on Wednesday.
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.
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.
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 first NFCA National Player of the Week honor in Turner’s career. She is now the fourth LSU player to earn the award, following in the footsteps of former Tiger greats Britni Sneed, Trena Peel and Kristin Schmidt. Turner has now earned three National Player of the Week honors in her career, joining with the two USA Softball honors.
After beginning the year at No. 9 in the preseason NFCA poll, this is the highest ranking for LSU (48-8) in the NFCA/USA Today poll this season and one shy of the school’s best ranking in this poll. Last week, the Tigers were ranked No. 6, but jumped two spots this week after taking the series from then No. 1 Tennessee
The Tigers have now been ranked for 28 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 133 of the 153 polls (.869) that have been released since the program was reinstated in 1997. The Tigers have also been ranked in the top 10 for 86 weeks in the program’s history, including a streak of 13 consecutive weeks this year.
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 ahead of LSU. Rounding out the top 10 are Arizona, Texas A&M, Northwestern, Michigan, Arizona State and Baylor.
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 with four teams. 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 NFCA/USA Today poll is voted on by NCAA Division I head coaches representing each conference.
2007 NFCA/USA Today Top 25 Poll
1. Alabama (20) 50-4 641 2
2. Tennessee (5) 51-4 626 1
3. Oklahoma 49-6 581 3
4. LSU 48-8 567 6
5. Arizona 35-10-1 555 4
6. Texas A&M 39-8 526 5
7. Northwestern 41-10 492 8
8. Michigan 40-9 452 9
9. Arizona State 45-13 437 7
10. Baylor 43-12 401 10
11. Washington 32-13 384 11
12. UCLA 33-13 360 12
13. Hawaii 45-9 331 14
14. DePaul 35-7 303 15
15. Oregon State 35-18 265 13
16. Stanford 31-14-1 252 17
17. Texas 33-16 207 18
18. Oregon 39-14 198 16
19. Georgia Tech 49-13 160 21
20. Florida 41-19 147 22
21. Southern Illinois 37-11 105 19
22. UL-Lafayette 42-13 100 22
22. Illinois State 39-13-1 100 24
24. Virginia Tech 42-14 98 23
25. Missouri 36-20 39 NR
Parenthesis denotes first place votes
Others Receiving Votes: N.C. State 34, Fresno State 34, California 11, Massachusetts 10, Creighton 8, North Carolina 2. Six others received one vote each.