BATON ROUGE — After finishing No. 10 in the ESPN/USA Softball poll two weeks ago, the LSU softball team garnered another top 10 national finish in the NFCA/USA Softball poll released on Wednesday, coming in at No. 10 once again.
The Tigers dropped to No. 10 in the final poll after closing out the season ranked No. 5 in the last regular season poll. This marks the ninth time since the program was re-established in 1997 that LSU has been ranked in the final NFCA poll. It is also the fifth time in 11 seasons the Tigers have been ranked in the final Top 10. Last year, LSU finished No. 11 in the NFCA poll and its best national finish was No. 3 following the 2004 season.
The Tigers completed the 2007 campaign with a 55-12, recording the ninth 50-win season in 11 years, one of only two schools who have achieved that feat. In addition, LSU was 22-6 in the Southeastern Conference, winning its eighth SEC Western Division championship while finishing second overall.
The Tigers entered the season with tied for the third best preseason ranking in the NFCA/USA Today poll, coming in at No. 9. LSU climbed as high as No. 4 in Week 12 poll and were ranked in the top 10 in all 13 of the weekly polls.
The Tigers have now been ranked in 135 of the 155 polls that have been released since the program restarted in 1997. In addition, LSU has been ranked in the top 10 for 88 weeks in the poll’s history.
After sweeping through NCAA Regional play in Palo Alto, Calif., including wins over nationally ranked Stanford and Fresno State, the Tigers were sent to Tempe, Ariz., to play the seventh overall national seed Arizona State. Unfortunately, LSU could not advance past the Sun Devils for its third Women’s College World Series berth.
The Tigers concluded the season with a 12-7 record against nationally ranked teams. LSU is one of five SEC teams ranked in the poll. Along with the Tigers, Tennessee is ranked No. 2, Alabama is No. 9, Florida is No. 14 and South Carolina comes in at No. 21. The five conference teams that finished ranked were only two behind the Pac-10, which led all conferences with seven ranked in the final poll.
ESPN/USA Softball Final Top 25 Poll
Team
Record
Points
PVS
1.
Arizona (24)
50-14-1
600
4
2.
Tennessee
63-8
576
1
3.
Washington
42-19
544
11
4.
Northwestern
52-13
532
6
5.
Baylor
51-16
478
8
6.
DePaul
47-13
477
14
7.
Texas A&M
46-14
467
7
8.
Arizona State
54-17
447
9
9.
Alabama
55-10
375
2
10.
LSU
55-12
374
5
11.
Oklahoma
55-8
363
3
12.
Hawaii
50-13
331
12
13.
Michigan
47-13
327
10
14.
Florida
50-22
272
19
15.
Oregon State
41-23
188
15
16.
Cal State Fullerton
38-23
171
NR
17.
Virginia Tech
49-16
158
21
18.
UCLA
37-18
152
13
19.
Georgia Tech
54-16
147
17
20.
Stanford
35-21-1
116
16
21.
South Carolina
38-26
113
NR
22.
Oregon
44-19
109
20
23.
Ohio State
40-18
86
25
24.
Texas
35-20
83
18
25.
Fresno State
47-18
63
NR
Others Receiving Votes: Illinois State 34, Georgia 27, N.C. State 26, Louisiana-Lafayette 15, Southern Illinois 15, Houston 14, Massachusetts 14, Tennessee Tech 10, Creighton 5, Loyola-Marymount 4. Three others received one vote each.