BATON ROUGE, La. – With a little over a week away from the start of the 2018 season, the LSU Softball team will begin the new campaign ranked in the top 10 of the USA Today/NFCA DI Coaches Preseason Poll and the ESPN.com/USA Softball Poll. The Tigers come in at No. 8.
LSU, who has been ranked every week since the end of the 2014 season, ended the 2017 season with a 48-22 overall record and made their sixth trip to the Women’s College World Series and their third-consecutive appearance.
The Tigers return 13 letterwinners from last year’s squad, including All-American pitchers in Allie Walljasper and Carley Hoover. Other key returners are Emily Griggs, Amber Serrett and Aliyah Andrews to go along with seven new faces who have joined the squad.
The Tigers earned a total of 550 points in the NFCA poll. LSU is one of three teams in the SEC ranked in the top 10 along with Florida and Texas A&M. In the ESPN/USA Softball poll, the Tigers picked up 345 points and was one of four SEC teams ranked in the top 10, along with Florida, Texas A&M and Alabama.
The Tigers open the season February 8 at home in Tiger Park, hosting Illinois-Chicago before hosting the Tiger Classic, February 9 and 10, which includes UT-Arlington, Southern Miss, UMass and Syracuse. Click here for the full 2018 schedule.
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 @lsusoftball on Instagram.
2018 USA Today / NFCA Division I
Top 25 Coaches Poll – Jan. 30 (Preseason)
Rank, School (First-Place Votes), Points, 2017 Record, Final 2017 Ranking
1, Oklahoma (31), 799, 61-9, 1
2, Florida (1), 762, 58-10, 2
3, Oregon, 719, 54-8, 4
4, Washington, 674, 50-14, 3
5, UCLA, 645, 48-15, 5
6, Texas A&M, 571, 47-13, 8
7, Arizona, 555, 52-9, 9
8, LSU, 550, 48-22, 6
9, Florida State, 545, 55-8-1, 10
10, Baylor, 530, 48-15, 7
11, Alabama, 484, 46-18, 12
12, Tennessee, 452, 48-12, 11
13, Auburn, 411, 49-12, 13
14, Ole Miss, 361, 43-20, 16
15, Utah, 323, 37-16, 14
16, Minnesota, 311, 56-5, 15
17, Kentucky, 300, 39-19, 17
18, Michigan, 252, 43-13-1, 20
19, BYU, 196, 46-13, 21
20, Tulsa, 165, 41-17, 22
21, James Madison, 159, 52-8, 18
22, UL-Lafayette, 121, 47-8, 19
23, Arizona State, 107, 31-22, 23
24, Oklahoma State, 77, 38-25, RV
25, Georgia, 71, 35-23, T25
Receiving Votes: Texas State (35), California (30), South Carolina (29), Mississippi State (17), Marshall (17), Missouri (15), North Dakota State (14), Florida International (14), Illinois (13), San Diego State (12), Notre Dame (12), Ohio State (9), St. Francis (Pa.) (7), North Carolina (4), Arkansas (2), Wisconsin (2), McNeese State (2), USC Upstate (1), Texas (1), Cal State Fullerton (1), Louisiana Tech (1), Fresno State (1).
The 2018 USA Today / NFCA Division I Top 25 Coaches Poll is voted on by 32 NCAA Division I head coaches, one representing each NCAA Division I conference.
ESPN.com/USA Softball Collegiate Top 25
Rank, Team (First-Place Votes), 2017 Record, Points, 2017 Ranking
1, Oklahoma (18), 61-9, 496, 1
2, Florida, 58-10, 469, 2
3, Oregon, 54-8, 463, 3
4, UCLA, 48-15, 410, 5
5, Washington, 50-14, 403, 4
6, Florida State, 55-8-1, 387, 10
7, Arizona, 52-9, 359, 9
8, LSU, 48-22, 345, 6
9, Texas A&M, 47-13, 334, 8
10, Alabama, 46-18, 316, 11
11, Tennessee, 48-12, 311, 12
12, Baylor, 48-15, 306, 7
13, Kentucky, 39-19, 305, 17
14, Auburn, 49-12, 233, 13
15, Ole Miss, 43-20, 223, 15
t16., Michigan, 43-13-1, 192, 20
t16., Utah, 37-16, 192, 16
18, Minnesota, 56-5, 166, 14
19, Arizona State, 31-22, 94, 23
20, Tulsa, 41-17, 90, 22
21, Oklahoma State, 38-25, 82, 25
22, BYU, 46-13, 68, 21
23, James Madison, 52-8, 63, 18
24, UL-Lafayette, 47-8, 50, 19
25, Georgia, 35-23, 35, RV
Others receiving votes: Ohio State (34), Notre Dame (29), North Carolina (22), South Carolina (18), Wisconsin (17), Arkansas (15), California (15), Illinois (14), Texas State (12), Texas (10), Northwestern (9), Nebraska (8), USC Upstate (8), Missouri (6), Florida International (2).