Posted: 4/28/2009

OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. – With 20 first-place votes, the Florida Gators (49-3) protected their number one spot with a three-game sweep of SEC-foe Arkansas to remain the top softball team in the nation according to the ESPN.com/USA Softball Collegiate Top 25 Poll announced today by the Amateur Softball Association.

There was a shuffle within the Top five but the teams remained the same with UCLA (35-8) holding on to the second-best ranking in the nation after going 3-0 this weekend with a win over then-No.9 Arizona and two wins over then-No.8 Arizona State.

No.11 Oklahoma (37-13) moved ahead of No.13 Missouri (41-8) after earning two wins to clinch the Big 12 regular- season title. No. 19 UMasssuffered its first Atlantic 10 loss to Charlotte, snapping a 49-game Atlantic 10 streak for the Minutewomen as well as an 18-game overall winning streak.

Four conferences are represented in the Top 10 with the Pac-10 Conference leading the way with five teams.

TOP TEN MATCHUPS

April 29
No. 3 UCLA @ No. 5 Washington 1:00 p.m./PT
No. 8 Arizona @ No. 7 Arizona State 5:00 p.m./PT
No. 8 Arizona @ No. 7 Arizona State 7:00 p.m./PT

May 1

No. 7 Arizona State @ No. 4 Stanford 7:00 p.m./PT

May 2
No. 8 Arizona @ No. 4 Stanford 1:00 p.m./PT

May 3
No. 8 Arizona @ No. 4 Stanford 12:00 p.m./PT


About ASA

The Amateur Softball Association, founded in 1933, is the National Governing Body of softball in the United States and a member of the United States Olympic Committee. The ASA has become one of the nation's largest sports organizations and now sanctions competition in every state through a network of 83 local associations. The ASA has grown from a few hundred teams in the early days to over 240,000 teams today, representing a membership of more than three million. For more information on the ASA, visit http://www.asasoftball.com/.

About USA Softball
USA Softball is the brand created, operated and owned by the ASA that links the USA Men's, Women's, Junior Boys' and Junior Girls' National Team programs together. USA Softball is responsible for training, equipping and promoting these four National Teams to compete in international and domestic competitions. The USA Softball Women's National Team is one of the 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 eight World Championship titles including the last six consecutive as well as claimed two World Cup of Softball titles. For more information about USA Softball, please visit http://www.usasoftball.com/.