Tag: college softball rankings

Alabama moves down in latest USA TODAY/NFCA Coaches Poll Top 25

A recent series loss to a conference opponent has Alabama softball sliding in the latest USA TODAY/NFCA Coaches Poll

Alabama Crimson Tide softball is having a strong season as the team continues in-conference play against other impressive SEC programs. A recent series loss to the Kentucky Wildcats on the road, split 2-1, led to a slight fall in the latest Coaches Poll.

Up next for head coach Patrick Murphy and the Crimson Tide is a brief homestead against Ole Miss before heading to Birmingham to play a one-game series against Samford. From there, the Crimson Tide will return to Tuscaloosa to face Texas A&M Aggies.

It’s a long season with plenty of opportunities to improve and rise up the rankings, but as things currently stand, Alabama sits at No. 14 and has an overall record of 26-8.

Check out the full USA TODAY/NFCA Softball Coaches Poll.

Rank Team Record Points Prev.
1 Oklahoma 34-1 800 (32) 1
2 Duke 29-3 727 5
3 Georgia 29-5 707 3
4 Texas 29-5 678 2
5 LSU 29-4 658 6
6 Tennessee 28-5 652 4
7 Oklahoma State 29-6 642 8
8 Stanford 27-6 599 7
9 Washington 25-5 560 9
10 Florida 31-5 534 10
11 Missouri 29-7 453 12
12 UCLA 20-8 431 14
13 Texas A&M 28-7 397 11
14 Alabama 26-8 348 13
15 Virginia Tech 25-8-1 318 15
16 Mississippi State 25-9 297 17
17 Clemson 24-10 275 16
18 Florida State 24-9 265 19
19 Arkansas 25-9 261 20
20 California 26-10 209 18
21 Arizona 22-11-1 143 21
22 South Carolina 26-10 139 22
23 Boston University 27-3 95 25
24 Oregon 20-12 69 24
25 Baylor 19-12 46 46

Others Receiving Votes

Texas State (38), Kentucky (17), Louisiana (12), Nevada (10), Kansas (9), FAU (8), Miami (8), Virginia (3), Auburn (2).

Roll Tide Wire will continue to follow Alabama softball as the 2024 season progresses.

Contact/Follow us @RollTideWire on X, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Alabama news, notes and opinion. You can also follow AJ Spurr on X @SpurrFM. 

Alabama moves up in latest USA TODAY/NFCA Coaches Poll Top 25

Alabama softball continues to trend upward in the latest national softball top-25 rankings!

With some late-game heroics, Alabama softball avoided the sweep against No. 5 Georgia on the road and will now look to bounce back with a few non-conference games before getting back into SEC play.

The Crimson Tide will face Samford and UAB at home over the next few days and then host No. 16 Virginia Tech.

In the latest rankings, Patrick Murphy and his team move up a single spot despite the recent losses. This team has top-10 potential and has plenty of time left in the season to make significant progress in the rankings.

Playing in the SEC, Alabama will be tested over the next couple of weeks with some intense in-conference competition. In the latest rankings, the Tide find themselves a the sixth-highest-ranked SEC program.

Keep in mind that next season, Oklahoma and Texas will join the conference. They rank No. 1 and No. 3, respectively, in the latest top-25.

Check out the full USA TODAY/NFCA Softball Coaches Poll.

Rank Team Record Points Change
1 Oklahoma 27-1 794 (26) –
2 LSU 24-1 771 (6) –
3 Texas 24-3 727 –
4 Oklahoma State 24-3 692 –
5 Georgia 13-4 666 –
6 Duke 22-2 637 –
7 Tennessee 22-4 610 +1
8 Washington 20-4 584 -1
9 Stanford 22-5 545 –
10 Florida 25-4 512 –
11 Clemson 21-6 461 +1
12 Texas A&M 25-3 432 +1
13 Alabama 22-5 392 +1
14 UCLA 17-6 371 +1
15 Missouri 22-6 369 -4
16 Virginia Tech 21-4-1 306 +2
17 Florida State 18-8 280 -1
18 Arkansas 22-6 245 +2
19 California 21-7 193 -2
20 Mississippi State 21-6 190 +1
21 Arizona 20-7-1 130 +1
22 Baylor 16-8 101 -3
23 USC 21-7 78 –
24 Boston University 20-3 66 –
25 Auburn 14-6-1 59 –

Others Receiving Votes

Oregon (55), Louisiana (43), Kansas (40), Kentucky (25), Texas State (19), Miami (6), Grand Canyon (1).

Roll Tide Wire will continue to follow Alabama softball as the 2024 season progresses.

Contact/Follow us @RollTideWire on X, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Alabama news, notes and opinion. You can also follow AJ Spurr on X @SpurrFM. 

Texas Softball finishes the 2020 season ranked No. 1 in final poll

Although the season was abruptly cancelled, Texas softball can take comfort in knowing they were the No. 1 team in the nation.

What could have been. Continue reading “Texas Softball finishes the 2020 season ranked No. 1 in final poll”

Texas Softball ranked No. 1 in nation, two players earn Big 12 honors

Texas softball is now the No. 1 ranked team in the nation, according to Softball America’s Top 25 Poll.

Texas softball continues to dominate.

Within a span of 72 hours last week, the Longhorns took down No. 10 Louisiana-Lafayette, No. 1 UCLA and No. 2 Washington. Defeating the top two teams in the country in consecutive games is the first in program history.

After suffering a loss to unranked Fresno State shortly after, Texas bounced back to defeat the No. 13 team in the country. Junior first baseman and outfielder Lauren Burke played a critical role in each of Texas’ key wins.

She was clutch at the plate, demolishing two home runs in crucial moments to propel Texas over UCLA and Washington. Burke hit .458 (11-for-24) with five doubles, six RBIs and a 1.375 OPS. Her consistent performances earned Big 12 Player of the Week honors.

She wasn’t the only Longhorn recognized, as sophomore pitcher Shea O’Leary was named Big 12 Pitcher of the Week after going 2-0 with 11 strikeouts over 15 innings. O’Leary also tossed a complete-game shutout to defeat No. 13 Michigan.

Texas’ impressive week on the west coast was enough to earn the No. 1 spot in Softball America’s Top 25 Poll.

Texas is back at home this weekend to host New Mexico, Texas Southern and Liberty in the Longhorn Invitational.

Texas Softball: Split double header, drop first game of the year

The Texas Longhorns softball team split a double header and wasted a pitching gem by senior Miranda Elish, who was the hero of game one.

The Texas Longhorns were back for two more games in the Texas Invitational with another matchup with Lipscomb and the Duke Blue Devils. The Longhorns struggled right out of the gate as Shealyn O’Leary was in the circle and had trouble with command of her pitches. Lipscomb, who was run-ruled on Friday by Texas, jumped all over them early 3-0.

Texas would respond and rattle off eight runs in a row over the next several innings while O’Leary kept them at bay. Kaitlyn Slack got the Longhorns started when she hit a RBI fielder’s choice that drove home Lauren Burke for the first run of the game. Mary Iakopo brought in the tying run with a RBI single that brought Shannon Rhodes around to score.

With Texas up 5-3 in the fourth inning, the extra base hit parade got started. Iakopo RBI triple brought it to 6-3 and Reagan Hathaway’s double off the wall brought in another run. Texas led 8-3 after four innings. There would be more trouble on the way for the Longhorns pitching.

Over the next 1.1 innings freshman standout Courtney Day really struggled win the circle. She gave up her first run of the year, then a couple more over one inning plus. Ariana Davis replaced her without much success. They gave six earned runs and found themselves tied. O’Leary would come back into the game but wouldn’t record an out.

All-American senior pitcher Miranda Elish would come into the game with the bases loaded and one out. She would proceed to strike out both batters to end a six-run inning for Lipscomb. Elish returned for the seventh and after loaded the bases back up, struck out the next two to shut down any attempt to take the lead.

In the bottom of the seventh inning, Iakopo was on third base and they refused to pitch to Elish. Walking her on four pitches brought a red hot Lauren Burke to the plate who hit into a RBI fielder’s choice that gave Texas the walk off. Elish picked up her seventh win on the year. Texas would then face a red hot Duke team in the night cap.

After pitching the final 1.2 innings of the first game, Miranda Elish took the ball in the second game. After a 12-11 scoring fest in the first game the Longhorns and Duke broke out into a pitchers duel. Elish went the distance with five strikeouts and giving up just one run. The first earned run allowed by Elish in 35 innings.

On the other side of the circle, it was Duke’s Peyton St. George who stole the show. The junior pitcher also went the distance, getting the best of her matchup with Elish. The Longhorns would leave nine on base throughout the game and just couldn’t get a timely hit off of St. George. For the first time this season Texas failed to score a run resulting in a 1-0 shutout. Elish took her first loss on the year (7-1) and St. George improved to 4-1.

The Longhorns wrap up the tournament with a matchup against Weber State on Sunday.

Lucky 13: Texas Softball run-rules their way to another win

The Texas Longhorns struggled early with scoring but broke through in the fourth inning and Miranda Elish pitched a shutout.

The Texas Longhorns softball team were at it again with the second game of their doubleheader in the opening day of the Texas Invitational. After the Longhorns took the first game against Lipscomb, Miranda Elish looked to match her teammate Courtney Day who picked up her third win on the season.

The offense got off to a bit of slower start int this game with not being able to get a run in the first inning but in the bottom of the second Kaitlyn Washington comes through for Texas. With two on,  Washington smashes a two-run triple to get the Longhorns an early 2-0 lead for Elish.

North Dakota State had opportunities against Elish but even with runners on in the second and third innings, they couldn’t get the timely hit to bring anyone around to score. In the fourth, Elish sent them down in order. Day comes through in the fourth to get the scoring started with an groundball to third.

The Longhorns blew the game wide open in the fourth inning setting up their ninth run-rule game in 13 opportunities. MK Tedder added two more runs on single. A hit by pitch drives in a another run. Texas ended the inning the way it started with another RBI single by Day. Longhorns led 10-0 after four innings.

Elish finished off the Bisons in the fifth inning to secure her sixth win of the season with a two-hit shutout. She also struck out eight as Miranda went the distance. The Longhorns will play two on Saturday with another matchup with Lipscomb and Duke.

Texas Softball: Longhorns defeat Lipscomb, remain undefeated

Texas softball defeated Lipscomb on Friday morning, improved to an impressive 12-0 record.

This team is special.

After defeating Lipscomb on Friday morning in the tournament opener, Texas softball has now improved to an impressive 12-0 record. The Longhorns put up 12 runs in just five innings, surrendering 0 runs in return. That now marks eight games this regular season that Texas has run-ruled their opponent.

This is the third-best start to a season in program history. Along with their bats, their pitching staff has been tremendous. Texas’ pitchers have not allowed a home run to an opposing batter this season.

Freshman pitcher Courtney Day earned the win and improved to 3-0 in the circle. Day pitched for three innings and allowed only one hit. Her collegiate career ERA is still 0.00 through 17 innings.

It didn’t take long for Texas’ offense to explode, scoring five runs on four hits in the bottom of the first inning. Junior right fielder Lauren Burke was 3-for-3 with three RBIs and nearly completed the cycle – finishing just a home run short.

Although it’s still early on in the season, Texas looks unstoppable. Softball America currently ranks the Longhorns as the No. 2 team in the country.

Texas Softball: Longhorns walk it off in the 9th inning

The Texas Longhorns needed some late innings heroics and a couple errors to stay unbeaten on the season.

The Texas Longhorns softball team was facing adversity for a change in their latest matchup with the North Texas Mean Green. The Longhorns fell down 2-0 very early, in fact the Mean Green scored both runs with one out. Shealyn O’Leary pitched three innings and gave up just the two runs. The offense struggled to pick up the slack for Texas.

Courtney Day came on in relief to throw two scoreless innings. Day surrounded just one hit and striking out one. She gave way for the Big 12 pitcher of the week Miranda Elish to pitch the rest of the way. Elish went four innings of shutout softball, striking out five and walking one.

On offense, the Longhorns struggled and had to scratch and claw their way back into the game. In the first Kaitlyn Washington hit a sacrifice fly to right field to bring Shannon Rhodes across the plate. North Texas pitcher Hope Trautwein pitched eight innings and gave up two runs, she got the no decision in this one.

Texas would tie the game up in the 7th inning when Camille Corona scored on a wild pitch from Trautwein. It would come down to the Longhorns in the 9th inning to remain perfect. Rhodes singled but a throwing error by North Texas allowed pinch runner Tuesday DerMargosian to come around to score to walk off in the ninth inning.

Elish improved to 5-0 on the season and Texas is now 11-0 early on in the season.

Texas Softball Jumps to No. 3 in Latest Top 25

After going a perfect 4-0 in the Puerto Vallarta College Challenge this past week, UT has risen to No. 3 in the latest D1Softball top 25.

After going a perfect 4-0 in the Puerto Vallarta College Challenge this past week, the Longhorns have risen to No. 3 in the latest D1Softball top 25. With their overall record at 10-0, Texas joins UCLA as the only two undefeated teams in the top 10 and are tied for the second-most wins throughout the entire top 25.

Just above the Longhorns at No. 2 are rivals Oklahoma. The Sooners jumped from No. 4, going 4-1 this past week. Oklahoma State at No. 8 and Texas Tech at No. 19 are the only other Big 12 teams ranked.

Coming up for Texas is a home game against North Texas on Wednesday afternoon at 4:30 p.m. CST. After their midweek game, they will host the Texas Invitational, as Duke, Lipscomb, North Dakota State, and Weber State will travel to Austin to participate.

Another game to look forward to is when the Longhorns will travel to Los Angeles to face the No. 1 ranked UCLA Bruins. Playing on Feb. 27, two of the top three teams in the country will be squaring off possibly for the title of No. 1 team in the country.

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