Jan. 23, 2008
ATLANTA – The Georgia Tech Softball Team has been ranked No. 17 in the USA Today/NFCA Division I Top 25 Preseason Poll released today. Since the inception of the NFCA poll in 1995, this is the highest preseason ranking for the Yellow Jackets.
Georgia Tech will face a minimum of 12 teams who are at least receiving votes in the preseason poll including three teams from the top 10 in No. 4 Alabama (at least twice), No. 2 Texas A&M and No. 10 DePaul. The Jackets will also face No. 16 Virginia Tech and eight teams who fall in the “also receiving votes category” (South Carolina, Hofstra, South Florida, Tennessee Tech, North Carolina, NC State, Georgia and Florida State.
Tabbed as one of the “more interesting teams to watch come February” by ESPN.COM, the 2008 Yellow Jackets return the majority of their starters from last year’s squad which set a school record for wins (54), broke several school and ACC records and finished the year ranked No. 16 in the NFCA poll.
The Yellow Jackets will open the 2008 season Feb. 9-10 at the Georgia State First Pitch Classic. They will face Lipscomb, Tennessee-Martin and Georgia State in pool play as well as an additional game in the championship round.
USA Today/NFCA Division I Top 25 Preseason Poll – January 23, 2008
The USA Today/NFCA Division I Top 25 Poll is voted on by NCAA Division I head coaches representing each conference. Final 2007 records are shown. First-place votes are in parentheses.
RANK TEAM Final ’07 Record TOTALS Final ’07 Rank
1 Arizona (27) 50-14 721 1
2 Texas A&M 46-14 581 7
3 Arizona State 54-17 575 8
4 Alabama 55-10 553 9
5 Oklahoma 55-8 522 11
6 Tennessee (1) 63-8 511 2
7 Northwestern 52-13 503 4
8 Baylor 51-16 486 5
9 LSU 55-12 463 10
10 DePaul 47-13 462 6
11 Washington 42-19 436 3
12 Michigan 47-12 400 13
13 Florida 50-22 386 14
14 UCLA (1) 37-18 381 18
15 Hawaii 50-13 343 12
16 Virginia Tech 49-16 306 17
17 Georgia Tech 54-16 210 19
18 Oregon State 35-21-1 201 15
19 Stanford 41-23 197 20
20 Oregon 44-19 165 22
21 Cal State Fullerton 38-23 163 16
22 Texas 35-20 115 24
23 Ohio State 40-18 111 23
24 Louisiana-Lafayette 46-18 84 RV
25 Missouri 40-24 76 25
Others Receiving Votes:
Houston 75, South Carolina 74, Georgia 62, Fresno State 42, UMass 38, Creighton 23, Illinois State 23, Florida State 22, California 21, Mississippi State 16, NC State 12, Tennessee Tech 12, Loyola Marymount 8, Nebraska 7, Southern Illinois 7, BYU 7, Hofstra 5, North Carolina 5, Louisville 3, South Florida 3, UNLV 3, Texas Tech 2, Mississippi Valley State 1, Fordham 1, Florida Atlantic 1, Iowa 1
2008 Georgia Tech opponents in BOLD
