BATON ROUGE, La. – Less than 20 days away from the season opening tournament of the year, the National Fastpitch Coaches Association released its preseason top 25 poll on Tuesday and the LSU softball team lands at No. 19 on the organization’s initial list.
One of nine teams from the Southeastern Conference to make the cut, the Tigers are a preseason top 25 team for the 16th time in program history, earning a nod in each of the last nine seasons dating back to the 2007 campaign. LSU is joined by No. 1 Florida, No. 3 Alabama, No. 6 Kentucky, No. 12 Georgia, No. 13 Tennessee, No. 17 Missouri, No. 20 Auburn and No. 24 Texas A&M rounding out the SEC delegates.
The Tigers will have 24 games against teams currently ranked heading into the beginning of the season, including non-conference home games against No. 4 Oklahoma, No. 22 Notre Dame and No. 23 South Alabama, while 18 will come against SEC competition during league play.
LSU returns 13 overall letterwinners and five everyday starters from its 2014 team that went 38-24 and finishing in the NCAA Tucson Regional final, highlighted by All-American’s A.J. Andrews and Sahvanna Jaquish, first team all-region pick Bianka Bell and SEC All-Freshmen team selections Baylee Corbello and Bailey Landry. The squad will also welcome seven newcomers to the group including high school All-American’s Carley Hoover, Allie Walljasper, Emily Griggs and Taylor Lockwood, among others.
Season tickets for the 2015 LSU softball season are currently on sale for $75, as the Tigers will play 35 games in Tiger Park in the upcoming year. For more information on purchasing season tickets, visit LSUTix.net or call (225) 578-2184.
For all of the latest news and information on Tiger softball, visit www.lsusports.net/softball. Fans can also follow the program on its social media outlets at www.Facebook.com/lsusoftball along with @lsusoftball and @BethTorina on Twitter and @lsusb on Instagram.
USA Today/NFCA Division I Softball Preseason Top 25 Poll
Rank, Team, 2014 Record, Totals, Final 2014 Rank
1, Florida (20), 55-12, 699, 1
2, Oregon (8), 56-9-1, 694, 3
3, Alabama, 53-13, 648, 2
4, Oklahoma (1), 51-13, 613, 5
5, Florida State, 55-9, 571, 7
6, Kentucky, 50-19, 565, 6
7, UCLA, 52-8, 536, 9
8, Michigan, 47-15, 493, 10
9, Louisiana, 49-10-1, 481, 8
10, Baylor, 49-16, 475, 4
11, Washington, 37-15, 411, 11
12, Georgia, 49-15, 402, 13
13, Tennessee, 46-12, 401, 12
14, Arizona, 44-16, 356, 14
15, Minnesota, 44-12, 298, 15
16, Arizona State, 46-12-1, 267, 17
17, Missouri, 43-18, 240, 19
18, Nebraska, 44-18, 213, 16
19, LSU, 38-24, 205, 21
20, Auburn, 42-19-1, 204, 20
21, Tulsa, 53-9, 175, 18
22, Notre Dame, 41-13, 133, 22
23, South Alabama, 42-14, 100, 23
24, Texas A&M, 37-22, 71, 25
25, DePaul, 44-11, 40, 24
Others Receiving Votes: James Madison (36), USC Upstate (21), Wisconsin (16), UCF (16), Texas (16), North Carolina State (14), Northwestern (3), Stanford (3), South Carolina (3), Hofstra (2), Louisville (2), Cal State Fullerton (2).