Alabama Softball Ranked No. 9 in Both Week Six National Polls

A series win on the road in conference play last weekend helped secure a spot in the top-10 national rankings this week, as the Alabama softball team moved up two spots to No. 9 in the USA Today/NFCA poll and dropped one to the same position in the ESPN.com/USA Softball poll.

Last week, Alabama earned a pair of midweek victories over Winthrop and Georgia Southern before taking two out of three games on the road at Mississippi State in the second weekend of conference play. Alabama now sits at 28-3 overall and 5-1 in SEC play.

The top eight in the NFCA poll are unchanged from last week, with the Crimson Tide sliding up two spots to No. 9 while both Oklahoma and UCLA fell out of the top 10. Alabama received a first-place vote in this week’s poll as well, joining Florida State, Florida and Oregon. Alabama flipped spots with previously ninth-ranked Minnesota in the ESPN.com/USA Softball poll, as the Crimson Tide has been ranked in the top 10 in the poll all season.

Alabama is also ranked No. 2 in the first NCAA Rating Percentage Index (RPI) of the season, released Monday. The rankings take a team’s win-loss record into account as well as its strength of schedule. The RPI rankings play a large role in the eventual seeding for the NCAA Tournament.

Alabama is one of 10 SEC schools ranked in this week’s top 25. All 13 SEC teams are either ranked or receiving votes in at least one poll this week. Ranked SEC teams include Florida (2/1), Auburn (4/6), Texas A&M (7/7), Alabama (9/9), LSU (12/11), Georgia (16/15), Kentucky (18/17), Tennessee (20/19), Ole Miss (23/RV) and Arkansas (24/22). Missouri, South Carolina and Mississippi State are all receiving votes outside the top 25.

This weekend, Alabama continues SEC play in Tuscaloosa, hosting South Carolina (19-10, 1-5 SEC) for a three-game series at Rhoads Stadium starting Friday, March 24 at 6:30 p.m. CT.