Clemson falls four spots in weekly softball poll

NCAA Softball: The Clemson Tigers fell four spots to No. 19 in the new D1Softball poll, released Tuesday, April 9.

Clemson fell four spots in the new D1Softball Top 25 poll, released Tuesday, April 9.

The Tigers (27-11 overall) swept Syracuse over the weekend after falling to Furman in non-conference play last week. John Rittman’s team is scheduled to face South Carolina in Columbia at 7 p.m. EDT Tuesday. The Tigers will then welcome Duke to town beginning Friday for a three-game series in ACC play. Friday’s series opener will be nationally televised by ESPN2.

With Oklahoma (35-3) losing its first Big 12 conference series since 2011, there’s a new No. 1 atop D1Softball’s poll. Texas (31-6) moved into the top spot after taking two of three games from the Sooners over the weekend in Austin. OU slipped to No. 2 in the new D1Softball poll.

Stanford (No. 3, 31-6), Oklahoma State (No. 4, 33-6), and Duke (No. 5, 33-3) rounded out the top five. The Blue Devils jumped to No. 1 in this week’s Softball America rankings. Duke went 4-0 last week after sweeping North Carolina in Durham. Clemson fell to No. 25 in Softball America’s rankings.

Aside from Duke and Clemson, only two other ACC programs placed in D1Softball’s top 25: No. 14 Virginia Tech and No. 18 Florida State.

The SEC had the most ranked teams by conference with nine, including No. 6 Tennessee