The Oregon softball team (3-2) ranked 19th in the first regular-season ESPN.com/USA Softball and NFCA USA Today polls, which were released on Tuesday.@@https://www.nmnathletics.com//pdf8/823858.pdf?ATCLID=205360891&SPSID=4376&SPID=245&DB_LANG=C&DB_OEM_ID=500@@
In all, seven conference teams (including Oregon) found themselves ranked in the top 20, including Cal (No. 1), Arizona State (No. 6), UCLA (No. 8), Washington (No. 9), Stanford (No. 12) and Arizona (No. 16). The Ducks are slated to play against 12 of the current ESPN.com/USA Softball top 25 teams this season, including all of the Pac-12 teams along with Alabama (No. 2), Missouri (No. 5), Baylor (No. 10) and Oklahoma State (No. 18). @@http://espn.go.com/college-sports/rankings/_/key/GENCOLLEGESOFTBALLPOLL@@
Arizona State (5-2) was No. 1 in the preseason rankings but found itself replaced at the top by Cal (4-0) after suffering early-season losses against McNeese State and Tennessee.
This is the 29th consecutive week in which Oregon has been ranked in the ESPN.com/USA Softball poll. In their season-opening appearance at the Kajikawa Classic in Tempe, Ariz., this past weekend, the Ducks lost two of their first three games before rallying to win the last two against San Jose State and San Diego State. They will have the chance to improve upon that 3-2 record in two weeks against No. 22 Nebraska.