April 04, 2019 / By mobanmarket
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Florida moved to 26-0 after a 4-0 week, which included a pair of SEC road wins at No. 3 Auburn to keep its unanimous No. 1 ranking in this week’s USA Today/NFCA Division I Top 25 Coaches Poll.
The Gators capped off their week with a pair exciting and hard fought wins over the No. 3 Tigers at Jane B. Moore Field. In the opener, Auburn rallied to tie in the bottom of the sixth, but a two-out Kayli Kvistad three-run long ball in the top of the seventh lifted UF to a 6-3 win. On Sunday, a three-run Nicole DeWitt home run in the fourth put the Gators ahead for good in an 8-5 victory. Both squads swept mid-week non-conference doubleheaders prior to the SEC opener.
The top nine spots remained the same with Florida State joining the top 10 for the first time since being tenth in the preseason poll. The Seminoles (20-3) finished 3-0 during a rain-shortened week, which included the Louisville Slugger Classic at Stanford. FSU picked up a mid-week road win at Cal State Fullerton (10-1) and recorded a pair of victories on the Farm against Tulsa (8-0), behind a perfect game from Meghan King, and a 3-1 triumph over Cal Poly to extend its winning streak to 15 games.
All dealing with weather-shortened weekends, No. 2 Michigan, No. 5 Louisiana-Lafayette, No. 7 Oregon and No. 8 Washington either went 2-0 or 3-0. The Wolverines (20-2) posted a pair of shutouts over Illinois State (1-0) and Dayton (7-0) and the Ragin’ Cajuns (19-1) swept a Sunbelt twinbill from South Alabama (3-2, 10-6). Out west, the Ducks (20-4) outscored their opponents 30-1 over three games and the Huskies (19-3) earned three wins by also scoring 30 runs, including a 12-3 win over No. 24 Fresno State.
In a matchup of No. 4 LSU and No. 6 Alabama in Baton Rough, the Tigers (23-3) took two-of-three from the Crimson Tide (22-4) and also added two mid-week shutouts of Longwood (4-0, 1-0). Against Alabama, LSU took the opener 6-2 and the finale, 8-1. The Crimson Tide took game two from the Tigers, 10-3, and also posted a victory over Samford (10-0) during the week.
No. 9 James Madison (22-2) picked up a road win at No. 18 Arizona (6-1) and also went 4-1 at the Louisville Slugger Invitational hosted by No. 21 Arizona State, which included wins over Ohio State (7-4), No. 23 Nebraska (7-0), Georgetown (2-1) and the host Sun Devils (2-1 in 8 inn.).
With the addition of FSU to the top 10, some slight movement was made between the teams ranked 10 through 24. Oregon State joins the top-25 for the first time this season at No. 25. The Beavers (19-4-1) trumped three opponents at the Matador Classic with wins over host CSUN (1-0), Toledo (7-2) and San Diego (11-0).
The USA Today/NFCA Division I Top 25 Poll is voted on by 32 NCAA Division I head coaches, one representing each conference. Records reflect games played through March 13, 2016.
2016 USA Today/NFCA Division I Softball Coaches Poll
Week 5 | March 15, 2016 (Results through 3/13)
New to Poll: No. 25 Oregon State
Dropped Out: No. 25 UCF
Receiving Votes: UCF (47), USC Upstate (9), Florida Atlantic (9), Texas (7), Ohio State (3), USF (3), North Dakota State (3), BYU (1).
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