Florida, Michigan and Auburn hold steady atop the ESPN.com/USA Softball Collegiate Top 25 Poll

March 15, 2016

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Five weeks of NCAA Division I Softball have yet to produce a shakeup in the No. 1 spot in the ESPN.com/USA Softball Collegiate Top 25 Poll as the No. 1 Florida Gators (26-0, 2-0 SEC) remain the top team in the country. Announced today by the Amateur Softball Association (ASA)/USA Softball, the Gators picked up their first Southeastern Conference (SEC) wins on the road en route to capturing 19 first-place votes, while No. 5 Louisiana Lafayette (19-1, 2-0 Sun Belt) captured the remaining one vote.

Click here to see the complete ESPN.com/USA Softball Collegiate Top 25 Poll.

The Florida Gators started the week with a pair of shut-out, run-rule wins over South Dakota before traveling to Auburn, Ala. for their first SEC matchup of the 2016 season against No. 3 Auburn (22-3, 0-2 SEC). The first game set the tone for the remainder of the best-of-three series as a three-run, go-ahead home run in the top of the seventh inning lifted the Gators to a 6-3 victory. The win also marked Florida Head Coach Tim Walton's 700th career win. In game two, the Gators utilized the long ball to capture an 8-5, series-clinching win.

No. 2 Michigan (20-2) held steady in the poll following a weather-shortened week at the Louisville Softball Classic in Louisville, Ky. Before rain and wet conditions cancelled their final doubleheader, the Wolverines picked up a 1-0 shutout over Illinois State and a 7-0 win over Dayton. Also maintaining their place in the poll is No. 3 Auburn, who finished the week with a 2-2 record. The Tigers collected a pair of wins over Tennessee State prior to their SEC series against Florida.

Moving up to No. 4 is LSU (23-3, 2-1 SEC), who picked up an SEC series win over then-No. 4 Alabama (22-4, 1-2 SEC). The Tigers collected two wins over Longwood before hosting Alabama in their SEC season opener, besting the Crimson Tide in two outings to clinch the series. Holding on to the No. 5 spot is Louisiana-Lafayette, who opened up Sun Belt Conference play at home against South Alabama. Also affected by inclement weather, the Ragin' Cajuns went 2-0 in their series against the Jaguars.

Rounding out the Top 10: No. 6 Alabama dropped two spots this week after a 1-2 outing against LSU; No. 7 Washington (19-3) went undefeated in a tournament hosted by then-No. 22 Fresno State (15-6-1); No. 8 James Madison (22-2) maintains their ranking after picking up two wins over Top 25 ranked opponents; No. 9 Oregon (20-4) posted a flawless 3-0 record for the week; No. 10 Texas A&M (23-2) collected three wins in a home series against Texas Tech.

New to the poll this week is No. 25 Nebraska (15-6), who upset James Madison in their opening game of the Louisville Slugger Invitational in Tempe, Ariz. Dropping out of the Top 25 was last week's No. 25 Texas (16-4), who picked up wins over UTSA and Samford before dropping a 3-2 decision to then-No. 20 Arizona (18-8) in their final game of the Maverick Classic in Arlington, Texas.

The ESPN.com/USA Softball Collegiate Top 25 Poll is voted on by coaching representatives of 10 Division I Conferences in the 15 ASA/USA Softball Regions as well as members of the National and Local media who consistently cover Division I Softball across the country.

*Records reflect play through Sunday, March 13, 2016.

About ASA/USA Softball
Founded in 1933, the Amateur Softball Association (ASA)/USA Softball is the National Governing Body of Softball in the United States and a member of the United States Olympic Committee. One of the nation's largest sports organizations, ASA/USA Softball sanctions competition in every state through a network of 70 local associations and has grown from a few hundred teams in the early days to over 165,000 teams today, representing a membership of more than 2.2 million. ASA/USA is responsible for training, equipping and promoting the six USA Softball National Teams that compete in international and domestic competitions. The USA Softball Women's National Team is one of only two women's sports involved in the Olympic movement to capture three consecutive gold medals at the Olympic Games since 1996. The U.S. women have also won nine World Championship titles as well as claimed eight World Cup of Softball titles. For more information about ASA/USA Softball, please visit http://www.asausasoftball.com.

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