Michigan Softball moves up in polls, gets a first place vote

Submitted by MGoSoftball on

The Michigan Softball team gained 1 first place vote in the USA Today/Coaches poll released today.  Although we did not move up in rank, we picked up more points.  Last week Georgia was #4 but they jumped over us by a convincing win against #2 Florida.  This is the first time in a very long time that a PAC-10 School is not rated in the top 3.

Our 2 wins against a very good Northwestern squad proved huge.  Many pick NW to finish 2nd in the B1G conference.  The voters must have realized that, coupled with Georgia's leap-frog of us.  Alabama finished #1 in the poll.

We play Bowling Green tomorrow and Indiana this weekend, all in A2.  This should be 3 nice wins.  Alabama, Georgia and Florida all play baby seals.

 

http://www.ncaa.com/rankings/softball/d1/espncomusa_softball

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m1817

March 29th, 2011 at 11:21 PM ^

Dorian Shaw took over the lead tonight.  She is in the ahead by 0.7%.

Vote early, vote often!

http://www.seniorclassaward.com/vote/softball_2011/

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For those who may not know, U-M softball first baseman Dorian Shaw has been named a finalist for the Lowe's Senior CLASS award for notable achievements in four areas of excellence - classroom, character, community and competition. 
 
 
Fan voting will count for one-third of the selection.  Support Dorian with your votes.
 
You may vote once a day between now and May 10.

Joined: 01/15/2011

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South Bend Wolverine

March 30th, 2011 at 12:27 AM ^

This team is putting together a really impressive run.  NW is always one of the tougher teams in the Big Ten, so starting off with a couple hard-fought wins against them in the cold is solid stuff.  Should have a chance to rattle off a few nice Ws before we run into stiff competition again.  I sure do like where this team is going!

Joined: 09/11/2009

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MGoSoftball

March 30th, 2011 at 1:31 AM ^

especially this year.  The PAC10 teams have had a slow start this year.  There might be only two, maybe three teams East of the Mississippi going to the W/S.

Texas and Oklahoma will both be there.  Three or four PAC 10 teams will be there.  One or two teams east of Mississippi will be there.

Joined: 10/18/2010

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Kermits Blue Key

March 30th, 2011 at 8:03 AM ^

I'm sorry, but I'm confused by your last statement.  If the top 4 teams in the country right now are from the East, why would you only expect 1 or 2 total to make it to the W/S.  On the other hand, you said the PAC 10 got off to a slow start, but you expect 3 or 4 to make it.  Can you please elaborate?

Joined: 09/04/2010

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JonSobel

March 30th, 2011 at 9:02 AM ^

are notoriously tough to deal with.  For whatever reason, they just tend to win.  When the tourney gets to the super-regional rounds, it would not surprise me if more than half the teams left hail from West of the Mississippi.  That's why when Michigan won it all it was so huge.

Joined: 10/07/2009

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MGoSoftball

March 30th, 2011 at 9:49 AM ^

for the comment. I would also like to add this. The regional and super regional matchups are unlike any other sport. It is complicated but I will try to explain. There are 64 teams that make the field, 30 automatic bids from conference winners and 34 at-large bids. The top 16 seeds are determined to be "national seeds". Each seeded team are assigned to a 4 team double elimination bracket. The other 3 teams are not seeded. So no seeded teams are in the regional together. The regional winner (16 teams) advances to the super regional. The super regional plays a best 2 of 3 with the winner advancing to the W/S. So it is easy to see how 3 or 4 Pac10 teams can make it to the W/S because of the reional parings. There could be 4 or 5 Pac10 teams that are seeded. So they will not play against each other in the regionals. So it is possible that every Pac10 team that is seeded, makes the W/S.

Joined: 10/18/2010

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Hardware Sushi

March 30th, 2011 at 9:17 AM ^

Seeing as how no one in the SEC has even won a national title, how are they getting all this poll respect for Bama, Florida, Georgia, Tennessee?

I'm guessing they went out and owned some tournaments before conference play started but I don't see how they have 1, 2 and 5 without any actual success on the national stage. #2 Georgia and #5 Florida have the most losses of anyone in the top 6.

I mean, is it ESS EEE SEE SPEED? Does Bama have Carmen Newton pitching and hitting the team to victories? I wish I had a third joke to insert here? Care to share any thoughts?

Joined: 03/08/2010

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MGoSoftball

March 30th, 2011 at 10:03 AM ^

on the national stage for a few years now. They just have not received any serious press because they didnt win the W/S. For us "softball guys", the SEC is right up there with the PAC10 in terms of quality level. The Big Ten is dominated by us, NW and, to some extend, tosu. In 2010 Bama was #1, Fla was #4, Ga was #6. In 2009 Fla was #1, Bama was #4 and Ga was #6. In 2008 Fla was #1 and Bama was #3. This year, Bama, Georgia, Tennessee and Florida has been in the top 10 along with UCLA, Zona, ASU and Washington. We started the season out of the top 10.

Joined: 10/18/2010

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Hardware Sushi

March 31st, 2011 at 10:13 AM ^

Thanks for the insight, as the extent of my college baseball/softball knowledge is pretty much walking from my house at State and Hoover to either the Fish or Alumni Field during Spring term afternoons in 06/07/08.

I have a follow-up question: I see we only played one SEC team, Arkansas, and mercied them in 5 (that's how I read it on mgoblue). Is there a particular reason we don't play SEC teams if they are our competition, along with the Pac-10 powers?

Joined: 03/08/2010

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MGoSoftball

March 31st, 2011 at 11:45 AM ^

Most of the early games (Feb/Mar) are D1 tourneys. In the past, tourneys were considered "pre-season". This is where a coach could juggle his/her line-up and try new kids at different postions. Those days are long gone. Now there is Fall Ball for this. The Tourneys fill up fast. So most of the coaches return to the same tourneys they were in the previous years. So this does not give much opportunity to play in other tourneys with different teams. We play in the Judi Garman Classic where it hosts major D1 teams including the top Pac 10 teams. These games have been interesting the past few years.

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