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Softball Ranked No. 3 by Coaches

by LSUsports.net (@LSUsports)
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Softball Ranked No. 3 by Coaches

BATON ROUGE — As the LSU softball team prepares to open NCAA Regional play on Thursday, the Tigers moved up to No. 3 in the final regular season ESPN/USA Softball poll, released on Tuesday.

Last weekend, LSU (52-10) won its fifth SEC Tournament Championship in nine seasons. The Tigers knocked off South Carolina, 2-1, in 10 innings, then No. 2 Alabama, 4-1, and No. 19 Florida, 1-0, in nine innings. Sophomore pitcher Dani Hofer was named the SEC Tournament Most Valuable Player, while senior Leslie Klein, junior Shannon Stein and freshman Rachel Mitchell were named to the All-Tournament team.

The tournament title earned LSU the SEC’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament, where the Tigers earned a No. 10 national seed. LSU will face Cal State Northridge on Thursday in the first game at 5 p.m. CT. If the Tigers advance past the Matadors, LSU will face the winner of the Stanford-Fresno State game on Friday at 2 p.m. CT. The regional championship game is Saturday at 7:30 p.m. CT.

LSU has been ranked in 69 of the 78 (.885) ESPN/USA Softball polls. The Tigers have now been ranked in the top 10 for 38 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. The Tigers entered the 2007 season ranked No. 7, their highest preseason ranking, and have now advanced to their highest ranking this year.

SEC rival Tennessee, the No. 5 national seed in the NCAA Tournament, dropped to No. 2 in the poll this week, while Oklahoma, the No. 3 national seed, moved up to No. 1 in the poll. The No. 1 overall national seed in the NCAA Tournament, Arizona dropped one spot to No. 4, followed by Alabama, the No. 11 national seed, at No. 5. Following the Crimson Tide are Northwestern, Baylor, Texas A&M, Arizona State and Michigan who round out the Top 10.
 
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. Among the four SEC teams in the top 25, three are in the top five, including Tennessee, LSU and Alabama, while Florida comes in at No. 22.

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. Oklahoma (14) 52-6 491 2
2. Tennessee (5) 54-5 479 1
3. LSU 53-10 442 6
4. Arizona 39-12-1 441 T3
5. Alabama 51-7 433 T3
6. Northwestern 45-11 385 7
7. Baylor 45-13 382 5
8. Texas A&M 40-10 359 8
9. Arizona State 49-15 354 9
10. Michigan 43-10 310 10
11. Washington 35-16 283 11
12. UCLA 36-16 280 14
13. Virginia Tech 48-14 266 15
14. DePaul 41-11 239 12
15. Georgia Tech 53-14 198 17
16. Hawaii 46-11 194 13
17. Oregon State 39-21 173 19
18. Stanford 33-19-1 150 16
19. Missouri 38-22 121 18
20. Oregon 42-17 105 20
21. Ohio State 38-16 89 RV
22. Florida 46-20 76 T25
23. Fresno State 45-16 72 T25
24. Southern Illinois 39-14 52 22
25. Illinois St. 42-15-1) 35 21
 
Parenthesis denotes first place votes
Others Receiving Votes: Creighton (26), Texas (21), Cal (11), UL-Lafayette (8), NC State (7), Cal Poly (6), Nebraska (5), Fullerton (2), Florida State (2), Louisville (1).