Jan. 27, 2010
GREENSBORO, N.C. – Defending league champion Georgia Tech and runner-up Florida State were selected by a poll of the league’s head coaches to finish in first place following the 2010 Atlantic Coast Conference softball regular season. Both teams pulled in 45 of a possible 224 points, but the Yellow Jackets garnered four first-place votes and the Seminoles claimed three top picks.
Yesterday, Georgia Tech came in at 13th in the NFCA/USA Today top 25 poll and 14th in the ESPN.com/USA Softball top 25 polls, the highest ranking of any ACC team. FSU and UNC were each ranked in the polls as well. That represented the highest preseason ranking for the Jackets in school history.
Picked to finish in third place was North Carolina with 39 points and one first-place vote. Virginia Tech and NC State were in a tight race for fourth place with each other, with the Hokies edging the Wolfpack for the fourth slot with 27 points, compared to 26 for NC State. Rounding out the 2010 preseason predictions were Maryland in sixth place with 19 points, Virginia in seventh with 13, and Boston College in eighth with 10.
The Yellow Jackets are coming off their best season in program history. They finished 13th in both the final NFCA and ESPN.COM top 25 polls as well as 12th in the RPI, all of which were program highs. Tech advanced to a Super Regional for the first time ever and won both the ACC regular season and tournament title.
Georgia Tech opens the 2010 season Feb. 12-14 at the USF-DeMarini Tournament in Clearwater, Fla. The Jackets will play game against Long Island, No. 3 Florida, Canisius, Florida Gulf Coast and South Florida on opening weekend.
2010 ACC Softball Predicted Order of Finish
Place Team (First-place votes) 2009 Record Points
T-1. Georgia Tech (4) 46-15 45
T1. Florida State (3) 44-16 45
3. North Carolina (1) 47-13 39
4. Virginia Tech 28-28 27
5. NC State 23-25 26
6. Maryland 29-26 19
7. Virginia 25-22 13
8. Boston College 18-33 10
