<html><head></head><body lang="EN-US" link="blue" vlink="purple" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: initial;"> <div style="width: 100%; font-size: initial; font-family: Calibri, 'Slate Pro', sans-serif; color: rgb(31, 73, 125); text-align: initial; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><br style="display:initial"></div> <div style="width: 100%; font-size: initial; font-family: Calibri, 'Slate Pro', sans-serif; color: rgb(31, 73, 125); text-align: initial; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><br style="display:initial"></div> <div style="font-size: initial; font-family: Calibri, 'Slate Pro', sans-serif; color: rgb(31, 73, 125); text-align: initial; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Sent from my BlackBerry 10 smartphone.</div> <table width="100%" style="background-color:white;border-spacing:0px;"> <tbody><tr><td colspan="2" style="font-size: initial; text-align: initial; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> <div style="border-style: solid none none; border-top-color: rgb(181, 196, 223); border-top-width: 1pt; padding: 3pt 0in 0in; font-family: Tahoma, 'BB Alpha Sans', 'Slate Pro'; font-size: 10pt;"> <div><b>From: </b>Codi Warren <cwarren@softball.org></div><div><b>Sent: </b>Tuesday, March 31, 2015 12:43 PM</div><div><b>To: </b>Codi Warren</div><div><b>Subject: </b>No. 1 Oregon ends SEC's reign atop the ESPN.com/USA Softball Collegiate Top 25 Poll</div></div></td></tr></tbody></table><div style="border-style: solid none none; border-top-color: rgb(186, 188, 209); border-top-width: 1pt; font-size: initial; text-align: initial; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"></div><br><div id="_originalContent" style=""><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=us-ascii"><meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 12 (filtered medium)"><!--[if !mso]><style>v\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);}
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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--><div class="WordSection1"><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Arial Narrow","sans-serif"">FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Arial Narrow","sans-serif"">March 31, 2015<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Arial Narrow","sans-serif""><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Arial Narrow","sans-serif"">No. 1 Oregon ends SEC's reign atop the ESPN.com/USA Softball Collegiate Top 25 Poll<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Arial Narrow","sans-serif""><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Arial Narrow","sans-serif"">OKLAHOMA CITY — In a season in which the Southeastern Conference (SEC) has dominated the No. 1 spot atop the ESPN.com/USA Softball Collegiate Top 25 Poll, the Oregon Ducks (30-4, 8-1 Pac-12) have become the first non-SEC squad to claim the No. 1 spot for the first time in 2015. Oregon, who has remained in the Top 3 all season long, earned their No. 1 ranking following a 5-1 week, including two run-rule wins over then-No. 17 Washington (31-9, 3-5 Pac-12). For their efforts, the Ducks captured 10-of-20 first place votes, while LSU garnered seven first-place votes and Florida nabbed three first-place votes.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Arial Narrow","sans-serif""><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://www.teamusa.org/USA-Softball/College-Corner/2015-College-Corner/Top-25-Polls"><span style="font-family:"Arial Narrow","sans-serif"">Click here to see the complete ESPN.com/USA Softball Collegiate Top 25 Poll.</span></a><span style="font-family:"Arial Narrow","sans-serif""> <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Arial Narrow","sans-serif""><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Arial Narrow","sans-serif"">Starting off their week with the final matchup of a Pac-12 series at Utah, Oregon pounced on the Utes for a 12-0 shutout win before heading back to Eugene for a stretch of home games. Picking up two wins over Utah Valley, 9-1 (six innings) and 3-0, the Ducks then set their sights on Washington. In game one of the series, Oregon came out hot as Cheridan Hawkins (Anderson, Calif.) picked up her first career perfect game in an 8-0 (five inning) shutout. Washington rebounded in game two of the series, snapping the Ducks 13-game winning streak with their own 10-2 (five inning) run-rule. Oregon captured the series in the finale, blasting eight home runs en route to a 15-6 (five inning) win.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Arial Narrow","sans-serif""><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Arial Narrow","sans-serif"">LSU (32-4, 6-3 SEC) fell from the top spot to No. 2 this week after dropping two games to then-No. 15 Kentucky (23-9, 3-6 SEC) on the road. The Tigers started their week with an 8-0 (five inning) shutout over then-T24 South Alabama (24-7, 8-3 Sun Belt) in a standalone game before their SEC matchup against the Wildcats. In game one, Kentucky posted a 3-1 win before a 5-2 come-from-behind win on Saturday that claimed the Wildcats their first SEC series win of the season. LSU avoided the series sweep in their final meeting of the series, shutting out Kentucky in a 2-0 win.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Arial Narrow","sans-serif""><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Arial Narrow","sans-serif"">Florida (32-4, 5-4 SEC) fell one spot to No. 3 this week despite capturing two SEC series wins over the course of the week. In a completion of a rained-out series at then-No. 5 Alabama (25-8, 8-4 SEC), the Gators and Crimson Tide split Monday's doubleheader with Florida taking a 4-1 win and Alabama taking a 5-1 win to avoid a series sweep. The Gators then traveled to Starkville, Miss. for a three game series against Mississippi State. Florida took the first two games, 3-2 and 16-2 (five inning) before falling to the Bulldogs 5-3 in their final game. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Arial Narrow","sans-serif""><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Arial Narrow","sans-serif"">Michigan (31-5, 5-1 Big 10) holds onto No. 4 this week after a 3-1 week at home. The Wolverines notched an 8-2 win over Western Michigan before taking on Iowa in a Big 10 series contest. Michigan shutout the Hawkeyes 6-0 in game one of a doubleheader and posted a 7-4 win to clinch the series. Iowa got the final say in their series finale, besting the Wolverines 6-4 while snapping Michigan's nine-game winning streak.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Arial Narrow","sans-serif""><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Arial Narrow","sans-serif"">Rising one spot to No. 5 is Oklahoma (27-5, 3-0 Big 12) who opened Big 12 play this week on the road against Texas Tech. The Sooners utilized their strong offense to sweep the series, capturing two wins via run-rule while outscoring the Red Raiders 43-12. During the three-game series, Lauren Chamberlain (Trabuco Canyon, Calif.), a member of the USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year Top 50 "Watch List", improved her all-time home run record to 87, tying her for second place while putting her just three home runs shy from tying the al-time leader.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Arial Narrow","sans-serif""> <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Arial Narrow","sans-serif"">Rounding out the Top 10: No. 6 Alabama fell one spot following a 4-2 week with wins over Florida and then-No. 23 Texas A&M (25-9, 7-5 SEC); Auburn (35-4, 8-1 SEC) continued their rise in the poll to No. 7 this week following a series win over then-No. 20 Missouri (22-7, 5-4 SEC); Georgia (29-7, 6-5 SEC) and UCLA (30-6, 5-1 Pac-12) are tied at No. 8 this week; No. 10 Louisiana-Lafayette (27-5, 12-3 Sun Belt) fell two spots this week after a 2-1 outing against Texas State.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Arial Narrow","sans-serif""><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Arial Narrow","sans-serif"">Joining the Top 25 this week is No. 25 James Madison (27-6, 6-0 CAA) while last week's No. T24 Virginia Tech (24-9, 3-8 ACC) fell out of the poll after being swept by unranked Notre Dame on the road.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Arial Narrow","sans-serif""><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Arial Narrow","sans-serif"">The ESPN.com/USA Softball Collegiate Top 25 Poll is voted on by coaching representatives of 10 Division I Conferences in the 15 ASA/USA Softball Regions as well as members of the National and Local media who consistently cover Division I Softball across the country.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background:white"><b><span style="font-family:"Arial Narrow","sans-serif";color:black">About ASA/USA Softball</span></b><span style="font-family:"Arial Narrow","sans-serif";color:black"> <br>Founded in 1933, the Amateur Softball Association (ASA)/USA Softball is the National Governing Body Softball in the United States and a member of the United States Olympic Committee. One of the nation’s largest sports organizations, ASA/USA Softball sanctions competition in every state through a network of 74 local associations and has grown from a few hundred teams in the early days to over 165,000 teams today, representing a membership of more than 2.5 million. ASA/USA is responsible for training, equipping and promoting the six USA Softball National Teams that compete in international and domestic competitions. The USA Softball Women’s National Team is one of only two women’s sports involved in the Olympic movement to capture three consecutive gold medals at the Olympic Games since 1996. The U.S. women have also won nine World Championship titles as well as claimed eight World Cup of Softball titles. For more information about ASA/USA Softball, please visit </span><span style="font-family:"Arial Narrow","sans-serif""><a href="http://www.asausasoftball.com/">http://www.asausasoftball.com/</a><span style="color:black">.</span></span><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Arial Narrow","sans-serif""><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family:"Arial Narrow","sans-serif"">About the NCAA Women’s College World Series</span></b><span style="font-family:"Arial Narrow","sans-serif""> <br>The ASA Hall of Fame Stadium serves as the home to the NCAA Women’s College World Series (WCWS). For the 25<sup>th</sup> year, the top eight college teams in the nation will head to Oklahoma City and complete for a National Championship title. Last year, nearly 70,000 fans attended the WCWS. Experience It Live May 28 to June 3 in Oklahoma City. Tickets for the 2015 NCAA WCWS are on sale now, <u><a href="http://www.ncaa.com/tickets/softball/d1">click here</a></u> to purchase your tickets and make a date with champions!</span><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Cambria","serif"">Codi Warren<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Cambria","serif""><img border="0" width="134" height="62" id="Picture_x0020_1" src="cid:image002.jpg@01D06BA7.B7FC7370" alt="ASA_USASplit logo_small"></span><span style="font-family:"Cambria","serif""><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt">Assistant Director of Marketing and Communications</span><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt">Amateur Softball Association of America/USA Softball</span><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size:10.0pt">Office</span></b><span style="font-size:10.0pt"> 405.425.3431 | <b>Cell </b>405. 420. 2817</span><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p></div><br><!--end of _originalContent --></div></body></html>