EUGENE – Alone in second place in the Pacific-10 Conference this week, the University of Oregon softball team (30-8, 6-2) improved another position in this week’s ESPN.com / USA Softball Poll.

UO’s 209 votes in Tuesday’s 10th edition were 36 more than last week (173) and the sixth straight poll that it ranked top 25.

Tuesday’s ranking was its highest since the 2007 campaign when it ranked 16th in late April – the same season the Ducks climbed as high as 10th nationally.

In recent versions, Oregon stood 17th last week, 21st in the seventh and eighth editions, 25th in the fifth and sixth editions, and received votes in three other USA Softball polls – the preseason, third and fourth week editions. 

In this week's USA Today / NFCA poll, UO climbed three positions to a season high of 20th, thanks to its 157 points. UO ranked 23rd last week after it stood just outside the top 25 and received votes the previous four editions.

Seven Pac-10 teams were tabbed top 20 this week in the USA Softball / NFCA editions - Washington (1/1), Arizona (3/3), UCLA (7/6), Arizona State (9/9), Stanford (11/9) and California (17/13).

Five other teams on UO’s schedule in ’10 received votes this week – No. 21/22 Texas A&M, No. 25/23 Notre Dame, No. 23/25 Hawai’i, BYU and San Diego State – and Fresno State and Texas Tech were sighted in recent editions.

Complete NFCA and USA Softball preseason polls are available at the http://nfca.org/top25/index.php?cat_id=1 and http://www.usasoftball.com/news.asp?uid=5398 URL addresses.

Looking ahead, No. 16 UO heads to No. 9 Arizona State (35-9, 4-5) for 7 p.m. games Friday and Saturday, April 23-24 and a noon finale Sunday, April 25. The national champion two years ago, the Sun Devils were swept at home last weekend by then-No. 16 California by 3-1, 8-0 and 11-3 scores, respectively.

This week, the Ducks trail No. 1 Washington by a game in the league standings and come off a 1-2 series with the returning national champion Huskies. UO's 4-0 shutout in the second game marked a win in the series for the sixth time the last eight years. UO lost 1-0 in the finale, and trailed 3-2 in the opener heading into the seventh inning before eventually losing 9-2.

 
ESPN.com/USA Softball Collegiate Top 25

http://nfca.org/top25/index.php?cat_id=1

Rk    Team    Record    Totals    Prev
*1.    Washington (14)    35-4    494    1
2.    Michigan (6)    33-5    481    2
*3.    Arizona    35-7    454    3
4.    Florida    34-5    440    4
5.    Alabama    35-9    428    5
6.    Georgia Tech    41-6    395    7
*7.    UCLA    30-9    357    8
8.    Oklahoma State    39-7    355    9
*9.    Arizona State    35-9    327    6
10.    Georgia    36-8    312    11
*11.    Stanford    30-9    292    10
12.    LSU    36-9    262    13
13.    Oklahoma    32-10    259    12
14.    Texas    35-9    234    15
15.    Missouri    32-8    226    14
**16.    Oregon    30-8    210    17
*17.    California    33-11    209    19
18.    Tennessee    37-8    162    18
19.    Illinois    31-5    133    20
20.    Florida State    37-12    114    16
*21.    Texas A&M    35-11    112    21
22.    UMass    25-7    73    22
*T23.    Hawaii    35-11    52    25
T23.    Ohio State    26-11    52    24
*25.    Notre Dame    34-7    24    RV

Others Receiving Votes:  North Carolina (17), *San Diego State (11), Hofstra (4), Fordham (3), Kentucky (3), *BYU (3), Lipscomb (1), UAB (1)

Dropped Out: North Carolina
New to Poll: Notre Dame

Parenthesis Denotes first place votes.

 

* Denotes Duck opponents in 2010

USA Today/NFCA Division I Top 25 Poll  

http://www.usasoftball.com/folders.asp?uid=3208

Rk    Team (1st Pl. Vts)    Record    Points    Prev
* 1    Washington (23)    35-4    742    1
2    Michigan (7)    33-5    725    2
*3    Arizona    35-7    677    4
4    Florida    34-5    671    3
5    Alabama    35-9    620    5
*6    UCLA    30-9    590    7
7    Oklahoma State    39-7    534    T9
8    Georgia Tech    41-6    527    T9
*9t    Arizona State    35-9    474    6
*9t    Stanford    30-9    465    8
11    Missouri    32-8    459    11
12    Georgia    36-8    407    13
*13    California    33-11    389    T16
14    Oklahoma    32-10    379    12
15    Texas    35-9    355    14
16    LSU    36-9    316    15
16    Tennessee    37-8    255    T16
18    Illinois    31-5    245    18
19    Ohio State    26-11    180    20
**20 Oregon    30-6    157    23
21    UMass    27-7    151    21
*22    Texas A&M    35-11    138    11
*23    Notre Dame    34-7    89    24
24    Florida State    37-12    82    19
*25    Hawaii    36-11    57    RV

Others Receiving Votes: *BYU 14, Louisville 13, Hofstra 11, Fordham 10, DePaul 6. Lipscomb 5, *San Diego State 4, Tenn.-Martin 1, Baylor 1, Kentucky 1

Dropped Out: No. 25 Louisville

Parenthesis Denotes first place votes.

-The USA Today/NFCA Division I Top 25 Poll is voted on by NCAA Division I head coaches representing each conference. First-place votes are in parentheses.

* Denotes Duck opponents in 2010

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