University of Tennessee Athletics
LADY VOLS PICKED THIRD IN PRESEASON ESPN/USA SOFTBALL POLL
January 24, 2006 | Softball
Jan. 24, 2006
OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. The Tennessee Lady Vol softball team will open the 2006 season in exactly the same poll position as it ended last year's record-setting 67-15 campaign. The ESPN.com/USA Softball preseason rankings were released on Tuesday with the Orange & White at No. 3 to tie for the highest rating in UT history and mark the top position by any team from the Southeastern Conference. A third-place finish in its initial venture into the Women's College World Series in 2005, 13 returning letter winners and eight returning starters all played a key role in helping UT achieve such a lofty preseason perch.
Defending national champion Michigan tallied 16 first-place votes in nabbing the top spot, while fellow 2005 national finalist, UCLA, picked up three first-place nods to rate second. Big XII stalwart Texas, with Olympian Cat Osterman in the circle, nabbed fourth with one first-place selection, while Pac-10 powerhouse Arizona rounded out the top-five.
The Texas A&M Aggies were rated sixth with the California Golden Bears at seventh position. Defending SEC Western Division and tournament champion Alabama is eighth while Stanford and Baylor sit ninth and 10th, respectively. The No. 9 Cardinal were eliminated from 2005 postseason play by UT in NCAA Super Regional No. 6 in Palo Alto, Calif., while the 10th-ranked Crimson Tide were bounced by the Orange in the WCWS. Overall, seven of the eight squads from last season's Women's College World Series begin the 2006 campaign in the nation's top-10.
SEC Eastern Division and regular-season titlist Georgia starts the year at No. 11 followed by Oregon State, Oklahoma, Washington and Northwestern in positions 12-15. DePaul, another 2005 WCWS participant, rates 16th and Fresno State is No. 17. Missouri, Iowa and SEC foe Auburn complete the top-20, while Louisiana-Lafayette, Nebraska, Florida, Georgia Tech and BYU hold down the final spots from 21-25.
The Lady Vols are currently scheduled to face eight teams from the national top-25 in at least 16 contests during a challenging 2006 slate. Those squads include: Alabama, Stanford, Georgia, Northwestern, Iowa, Auburn, Louisiana-Lafayette and Florida.
Tennessee boasts a plethora of standouts at the plate, in the field and in the circle venturing into the 2005 campaign. Included are four 2005 Louisville Slugger/National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) All-Americans.
Junior pitcher and two-time first-team All-America Monica Abbott returns after a record-setting campaign in the circle in 2005 during which she led the nation in victories (50), shutouts (34) and strikeouts (603) while registering an impressive 0.52 ERA in 392.0 innings of work. The Salinas, Calif., native enters this season just outside the top-16 national list (No. 16 -- Lisa Ishikawa/Northwestern/1984-87/1,200 K's) in career strikeouts with 1,185.
UT's all-time leader in batting average (.387), senior third baseman Kristi Durant, hit .387 last year while tying for the national lead and leading the SEC in RBI with 77. The Placentia, Calif., native's 92 hits were good enough for third in the league and her .464 on-base percentage ranked her fifth in the SEC.
Junior shortstop Lindsay Schutzler established a new SEC single-season mark with 107 hits last year, led the league in runs scored with 72 and finished in the conference's top three in batting average at .396. The Monterey, Calif., native also led the squad in slugging percentage (.574), total bases (155) and stolen bases (36).
A center field staple for UT, senior Sarah Fekete battled her way through a trying season that included a broken jaw to lead the SEC in hitting at .414 with 79 hits in 191 at-bats. The Maryville, Tenn., product registered 49 runs scored and an SEC second-best total of 30 stolen bases.
Also back for the Big Orange are senior utility player Katherine Card (.312, eight HR's, 48 RBI), power-hitting 2005 SEC All-Freshman first baseman Tonya Callahan (.300, 11 HR's, 46 RBI) and fellow 2005 SEC All-Freshman selections catcher Shannon Doepking (.274, seven HR, 42 RBI) and hurler Megan Rhodes (14-6, 1.62 ERA, 125 K's).
UT will christen its 2006 campaign in Myrtle Beach, S.C., on Feb. 10 with a 2 p.m. matchup versus Illinois State in the Coastal Carolina Tournament.
| 2006 ESPN.com/USA Softball Collegiate Top 25 Pre-Season Poll | |||
| Rank | Team | 2005 Record | Points |
| 1. | Michigan (16) | 65-7 | 494 |
| 2. | UCLA (3) | 40-20 | 468 |
| 3. | Tennessee | 67-15 | 437 |
| 4. | Texas (1) | 49-13 | 436 |
| 5. | Arizona | 45-12 | 421 |
| 6. | Texas A&M | 47-10 | 391 |
| 7. | Cal | 52-15 | 381 |
| 8. | Alabama | 63-15 | 357 |
| 9. | Stanford | 43-16 | 352 |
| 10. | Baylor | 51-14 | 292 |
| 11. | Georgia | 55-15 | 273 |
| 12. | Oregon State | 43-16 | 259 |
| 13. | Oklahoma | 54-17 | 255 |
| 14. | Washington | 35-22 | 206 |
| 15. | Northwestern | 42-18 | 195 |
| 16. | DePaul | 45-21 | 173 |
| 17. | Fresno State | 43-12 | 145 |
| 18. | Missouri | 44-15 | 126 |
| 19. | Iowa | 49-14 | 125 |
| 20. | Auburn | 50-17 | 112 |
| 21. | Louisiana-Lafayette | 51-10 | 106 |
| 22. | Nebraska | 36-23 | 92 |
| 23. | Florida | 41-23 | 68 |
| 24. | Georgia Tech | 50-13 | 57 |
| 25. | BYU | 45-14 | 56 |
| Parentheses Denotes first place votes. | |||
| Others receiving votes: Fullerton (40), LSU (38), Florida State (22), Southern Illinois (16), Oregon (13), Notre Dame (12), Virginia Tech (11), UNLV (11), Arizona State (10), Bethune Cookman (9), Long Beach State (8), Pacific (7), Oklahoma State (5), South Florida (5), NC State (5), Kansas (3), Louisville (3), Hofstra (2), Wichita State (2) and North Carolina (1). | |||
