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Softball Ranked 11th in Both Preseason Polls

by Chelsey Chamberlain | Assistant Communications Director
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Softball Ranked 11th in Both Preseason Polls

BATON ROUGE – With a little over a week away from the start of the 2020 season, the LSU Softball team will begin the new campaign ranked 11th in both the ESPN.com/USA Softball poll and in the USA Today/NFCA DI Coaches poll.

LSU, who has been ranked every week since the end of the 2014 season, ended the 2019 season with a 43-19 overall record. The Tigers return 16 players from the 2019 squad, including Preseason All-SEC selections Aliyah Andrews and Shelbi Sunseri. The Tigers add seven freshmen to the roster.  

The Tigers earned a total of 499 points in the NFCA poll and 290 points in the ESPN.com/USA Softball poll. The Tigers are one of 10 SEC schools in the top 25 of the NFCA poll and one of eight schools in the top 25 of the ESPN.com/USA Softball poll.   

The Tigers kick off the 2020 season on February 6 with the Central Arkansas before hosting the annual Tiger Classic February 7-9, welcoming in 2019 Women’s College World Series team Oklahoma State, who is ranked 13th in the nation, and Florida A&M.

Single-game tickets for the 2020 LSU softball season are now on sale through the LSU Ticket Office and online at LSUtix.net. For more information on the 2020 softball schedule, click here.

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.

2020 USA Today / NFCA Division I
Top 25 Coaches Poll – Jan. 28 (Preseason)

Rank, School (First-Place Votes), Points, 2019 Record, Final 2019 Ranking
1, Washington (7), 755, 52-9, 3
2, Alabama (11), 752, 60-10, 4
3, Oklahoma (4), 729, 57-6, 2
4, UCLA (9), 716, 56-6, 1
5, Arizona (1), 695, 48-14, 5
6, Texas, 567, 46-17, 11
7, Florida, 533, 49-18, 7
8, Minnesota, 523, 46-14, 8
9, Florida State, 512, 55-10, 9
10, ULL, 506, 52-6, 18
11, LSU, 499, 43-19, 10
12, Tennessee, 443, 43-17, 12
13, Oklahoma State, 433, 45-17, 6
14, Northwestern, 404, 47-13, 14
15, Kentucky, 325, 36-24, 16
16, Georgia, 297, 42-19, 17
17, Michigan, 265, 45-13, 20
18, Texas Tech, 229, 42-16, 19
19, South Carolina, 194, 38-19, 21
20, James Madison, 174, 51-10, 13
21, Ole Miss, 149, 41-20, 15
22, Arizona State, 136, 35-20, 24
23, Auburn, 127, 39-21, 22
24, Arkansas, 113, 38-20, RV
25, Wisconsin, 93, 43-14, 25

Receiving Votes: Virginia Tech (60), Oregon (52), North Carolina (24), Missouri (19), USF (19), Cal State Fullerton (11, Notre Dame (11), Boise State (7), Houston (7), Baylor (5), Stanford (5), Ohio State (4), Fresno State (2), Louisville (2), Tulsa (2), San Jose State (1).

The 2019 USA Today / NFCA Division I Top 25 Coaches Poll is voted on by 32 NCAA Division I head coaches with one representing each of the NCAA’s Division I Conferences.

ESPN.com/USA Softball Collegiate Top 25

Rank, Team (First-Place Votes), 2019 Record, Points, 2019 Ranking
1, Alabama (12), 60-10, 487, 4
2, Washington (2), 52-9, 460, 3
3, Oklahoma (3), 57-5, 458, 2
4, UCLA (3), 55-6, 445, 1
5, Arizona, 48-14, 405, 5
6, Texas, 46-17, 368, 10
7, Minnesota, 46-14, 363, 8
8, Florida State, 55-10, 322, 9
9, Florida, 49-18, 319, 7
10, ULL, 52-6, 316, 17
T11, LSU, 43-19, 290, 12
T11, Tennessee, 43-17, 290, 11
13, Oklahoma State, 45-17, 242, 6
14, Michigan, 45-13, 219, 18
15, Northwestern, 47-13, 211, 16
16, Kentucky, 36-24, 208, 15
17, Georgia, 42-19, 181, 20
18, James Madison, 51-10, 117, 13
19, Texas Tech, 42-16, 116, 19
20, Arkansas, 38-20, 103, RV
21, South Carolina, 42-14, 102, T23
22, Arizona State, 35-20, 68, RV
23, Wisconsin, 43-14, 67, 22
24, Oregon, 22-30, 62, NR
25, Ole Miss, 41-20, 56, 14

Others receiving votes: Auburn (53), Virginia Tech (35), Louisville (25), North Carolina (25), Baylor (19), Houston (15), Missouri (15), Indiana (8), Stanford (8), South Florida (6), Mississippi State (5), Notre Dame (4), Ohio State (3), Boise State (2), Drake (1), San Diego State (1)