STARKVILLE, Miss. - After winning its first-ever national championship in 2009, the Washington Huskies will begin the 2010 softball season as the unanimous No. 1 team in the nation according to the USA Today/National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) Top 25 preseason poll. Four other participants from last year’s Women’s College World Series, Alabama, Florida, Michigan and Arizona State, round out the top five.
NCAA Norman Region and Summit League tournament champion North Dakota State (38-20) received 44 points and just missed cracking the preseason top 25.
The Bison are scheduled to open the 2010 season on the road at Arizona State’s Kajiwara Classic on Feb. 12-14 in Tempe. While NDSU doesn’t tangle with the No. 5-ranked Sun Devils, the Bison do play No. 6 Arizona.
North Dakota State finished 21st in the final USA Today/NFCA and 18th in the ESPN.com/USA Softball Top 25 polls after advancing to the NCAA Super Regional at Arizona State.
The USA Today/NFCA Division I Top 25 Poll is voted on by NCAA Division I head coaches, one representing each conference. Final 2009 records are shown. First-place votes are in parentheses.
The first 2010 regular season poll will be released on Tuesday, Feb. 9.
|
RANK |
TEAM |
’09 Record |
TOTALS |
Last Poll |
|
1 |
Washington (30) |
51-12 |
750 |
1 |
|
2 |
Alabama |
54-11 |
677 |
3 |
|
3 |
Florida |
63-5 |
649 |
2 |
|
4 |
Michigan |
47-12 |
625 |
6 |
|
5 |
Arizona St. |
47-19 |
613 |
5 |
|
6 |
Arizona |
46-17 |
597 |
7 |
|
7 |
Georgia |
47-12 |
569 |
4 |
|
8 |
UCLA |
45-11 |
558 |
9 |
|
9 |
Missouri |
50-12 |
536 |
8 |
|
10 |
Stanford |
48-11 |
433 |
10 |
|
11 |
Oklahoma |
41-16 |
401 |
16 |
|
12 |
California |
38-20 |
370 |
11 |
|
13 |
Georgia Tech |
46-15 |
319 |
13 |
|
14 |
Ohio St. |
47-11 |
312 |
12 |
|
15 |
Northwestern |
31-15 |
288 |
18 |
|
16 |
Tennessee |
40-18-1 |
245 |
20 |
|
17 |
Baylor |
40-22 |
226 |
15 |
|
18 |
LSU |
34-18-1 |
219 |
19 |
|
19 |
North Carolina |
47-13 |
209 |
17 |
|
20 |
Massachusetts |
41-10 |
199 |
14 |
|
21 |
DePaul |
39-14 |
178 |
23 |
|
22 |
Louisville |
48-11 |
166 |
RV |
|
23 |
Florida St. |
44-16 |
109 |
22 |
|
24 |
Louisiana-Lafayette |
45-13 |
88 |
25 |
|
25 |
Fresno St. |
38-20 |
75 |
RV |
Others Receiving Votes: North Dakota St. 44, Jacksonville St. 38, Cal Poly 37, Nevada 31, Nebraska 28, Texas 23, Notre Dame 21, Cal St. Fullerton 17, San Diego St. 15, Iowa 11, Kentucky 11, Purdue 10, Hawaii 8, Mississippi St. 7, Southern Illinois 7, Cal St. Northridge 6, Texas A&M 6, Tulsa 6, Creighton 4, BYU 3, Houston 3, Oklahoma St. 3
Courtesy: Bob Nelson, NDSU
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