Alabama Softball Hold Steady at No. 9 and 11 in Week Four Polls
For the second-straight week, Alabama softball is ranked No. 9 in the ESPN.com/USA Softball poll and No. 11 in the USA Today/NFCA poll, released Tuesday.
Last week, Alabama went 6-0 to extend its current winning streak to 12 games, outscoring its opponents 42-5 including a pair of no-hitters. No new teams entered the top 10 this week in the NFCA poll while 11th-ranked Minnesota moved up to No. 7 in the USA Softball poll. The top four in the NFCA poll remain the same from last week, with Florida State at the top, while Auburn slid down one spot to No. 4 in the USA Softball poll, switching places with third-ranked Oregon who trail Florida and Florida State.
Alabama is one of 10 SEC schools ranked in this week’s top 25, the most of any conference. Ranked SEC teams include Auburn (2/4), Florida (3/1), Texas A&M (6/5), Alabama (11/9), LSU (12/12), Tennessee (14/13), Georgia (16/17), Kentucky (19/20), Ole Miss (22/22) and Missouri (24/RV). Arkansas is receiving votes outside the top 25 in the NFCA poll.
This week, Alabama plays back-to-back midweek games Tuesday against Loyola-Chicago and Wednesday against Valparaiso before welcoming Arkansas to Rhoads Stadium for the opening weekend of SEC play starting Friday.