Jan. 25, 2006
ATLANTA – One day after being tabbed No. 24 in the ESPN.com/USA Softball Collegiate Preseason Top 25 Poll, the Georgia Tech softball team earned a No. 25 billing from the USA Today/NFCA Top 25 Preseason Poll, released on Wednesday. The Yellow Jackets return seven starters off their Atlantic Coast Conference championship team.
Defending national champion Michigan earns the No. 1 spot with 21 first-place votes and national runner-up UCLA is No. 2, receiving the other eight first-place votes. Rounding out the top five are No. 3 Tennessee, No. 4 Texas and No. 5 Arizona.
Florida State and North Carolina are both receiving votes out of the ACC. FSU received 36 votes, while the Tar Heels were given 13 votes. The preseason ACC poll will come out sometime next week.
The Yellow Jackets will face four of the top 10, including top-ranked Michigan (Feb. 25), No. 4 Texas (March 22), No. 6 Alabama (Feb. 24) and No. 10 Georgia (March 29). The Jackets will open the regular season at home against No. 23 Missouri, Feb. 10-11, in a three-game series. The first game will be played on Friday at 2 p.m.
USA Today/NFCA Top 25 Preseason PollRk Team 2005 Record Totals1. Michigan (21) 65-7 7142. UCLA (8) 40-20 7043. Tennessee 67-15 6424. Texas 49-13 6255. Arizona 45-12 6076. Alabama 63-15 5427. Stanford 43-16 4628. California 52-15 4599. Texas A&M 47-10 44510. Georgia 55-15 41111. Baylor 51-14 38612. Oklahoma 50-17 37113. Washington 35-22 36114. DePaul 45-21 35615. Oregon State 43-16 35116. Northwestern 42-18 27917. Auburn 50-18 23118. Louisiana-Lafayette 51-10 18219. Florida 41-23 14920. Fresno State 43-12 13021. Nebraska 36-23 12722. Oregon 36-25 11823. Missouri 44-15 11224. Iowa 50-14 10525. Georgia Tech 51-14 104
Others receiving votes: BYU (93), LSU (80), Louisville (37), Arizona State (37), Florida State (36), Notre Dame (31), Southern Illinois (21), Hofstra (20), Bethune-Cookman (18), North Carolina (13), Central Michigan (13), UNLV (10), Cal State Fullerton (10), Long Beach State (9), Mississippi State (8), Six others tied with one vote each.
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