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Softball Finishes in Top 5 of Final Polls

by Chelsey Chamberlain | Assistant Communications Director
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Softball Finishes in Top 5 of Final Polls

BATON ROUGE – After seeing the season get cut short and finishing the year with a 21-3 record, the LSU softball team finishes in the Top 5 of the final weekly polls, coming in at No. 5 in both the USA Today/NFCA Division I Coaches and ESPN.com/USA Softball Poll.  

LSU, who has been ranked every week since the end of the 2014 season, earned a total of 649 points in the NFCA poll. In the ESPN/USA Softball poll, the Tigers picked up 406 points.

It is the sixth straight year that the Tigers finish in the Top 10 of the polls, which leads the SEC. The Tigers finish the season as the highest ranked SEC team and the highest ranked team east of the Mississippi.

To cap the 2020 season, the Tigers led the nation in earned run average at a 0.95 mark. Maribeth Gorsuch tossed the first seven-inning perfect game in program history against Belmont on Feb. 22, throwing 21 first pitch strikes and striking out a career-high 16 batters. Shelby Wickersham, Maribeth Gorsuch, Ali Kilponen and Shelbi Sunseri all had a Top 35 ERA in the country.

The team finished with the ninth highest batting average in the country at .344. Georgia Clark led the way with a .429 mark, while Aliyah Andrews hit .408 in the 24 games. Andrews was 18-for-19 in stolen bases and moved into second on the all-time stolen base list this season.  

2020 USA Today / NFCA Division I
Top 25 Coaches Poll – April 7 (Final)

Rank, School (First-Place Votes), Points, 2020 Record, Previous Ranking
1, UCLA (32), 800, 25-1, 1
2, Washington, 763, 23-2, 2
3, Texas, 732, 24-3, 3
4, Arizona, 693, 22-3, 4
5, LSU, 649, 21-3, 5
6, Oklahoma, 635, 20-4, 6
7, Florida, 615, 23-4, 7
8, ULL, 559, 18-6, 8
9, Oregon, 531, 22-2, 9
10, Alabama, 465, 14-8
11, Kentucky, 447, 20-4, 11
12, Florida State, 418, 17-7, 12
12, Oklahoma State, 418, 19-5, 13
14, Georgia, 372, 23-5, 14
15, South Carolina, 300, 17-6, 16
16, Virginia Tech, 295, 21-4, 17
17, Arizona State, 280, 22-7, 15
18, Michigan, 233, 15-8, 18
19, Arkansas, 185, 19-6, 20
20, Mississippi State, 179, 23-3, 21
21, UCF, 167, 21-5-1, 22
22, Minnesota, 161, 15-9-1, 19
23, Baylor, 122, 19-5, 24
24, Fresno State, 93, 21-4, 25
25, Missouri, 82, 19-7, 23

Receiving Votes: Duke (49), Stanford (39), Utah (30), North Texas (21), James Madison (20), Texas Tech (15), San Jose State (14), Tennessee (5), Cal State Fullerton (4), Wisconsin (4), Houston (2), North Carolina State (2), Stephen F. Austin (1).

The 2020 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), 2020 Record, Points, Previous Ranking
1, UCLA (20), 25-1, 500, 1
2, Washington, 23-2, 469, 3
3, Texas, 24-3, 464, 2
4, Arizona, 22-3, 432, T4
5, LSU, 21-3, 406, T4
6, Florida, 23-4, 374, 7
6, Oklahoma, 20-4, 374, 6
8, Oregon, 22-2, 342, 9
9, ULL, 18-6, 324, 8
10, Kentucky, 20-4, 296, T11
11, Oklahoma State, 19-5, 283, T11
12, Florida State, 17-7, 258, 10
13, Alabama, 14-8, 240, 13
14, Georgia, 23-5, ,226, 14
15, Arizona State, 22-7, 183, 15
15, South Carolina, 17-6, 183, 16
17, Baylor, 19-5, 156, 18
18, Virginia Tech, 21-4, 142, 21
19, Michigan, 15-8, 140, 17
20, Mississippi State, 25-3, 126, 22
21, Arkansas, 18-6, 103, 20
22, Minnesota, 15-9-1, 97, 19
23, Fresno State, 21-4, 87, 25
24, UCF, 21-5-1, 69, 23
25, Duke, 23-4, 49, RV

Others receiving votes: Stanford (41), Missouri (36), Utah (33), North Texas (29), San Jose State (18), James Madison (7), North Carolina State (4), Texas A&M (4), Loyola Marymount (1), Oregon State (1), South Florida (1)