Softball Earned Second Preseason Number-One Ranking
Tuesday, January 27, 2009 | Softball
The University of Florida softball team earned its second number-one ranking of the preseason on Tuesday as the ESPN.com/USA Softball poll named the Gators its top team. Last week, UF was deemed number one in the USA Today/NFCA preseason poll.
Florida garnered the most first-place votes with 18. Defending National Champion No. 3 Arizona State and No. 4 UCLA each received one first-place vote. Southeastern Conference foe Alabama ranked second, 31 points behind the Gators. No. 13 Tennessee, No. 17 LSU and No. 23 Georgia were the other Southeastern Conference schools in the top 25. Florida is slated to play eight opponents who are ranked in the preseason poll.
The Gators finished the 2008 season ranked third in the ESPN.com/USA Softball poll, the highest final ranking in program history. They also recorded the school's first-ever number-one ranking by both USA Today/NFCA and ESPN.com/USA Softball polls. They finished the season tying for third at the Women's College World Series and setting an NCAA record with 70 wins. The players and team also rewrote much of the Florida record book.
Head Coach Tim Walton returns eight of nine starters from last year's historic team, including five All-Americans who were just named to the Preseason All-SEC team. Junior Francesca Enea (Woodland Hills, Calif.), senior Ali Gardiner (Waccabuc, N.Y.), senior Stacey Nelson (Los Alamitos, Calif.), sophomore Aja Paculba (Wildomar, Calif.) and senior Kim Waleszonia (Fontana, Calif.) led the Gators to a 27-1 record in the conference, the best winning percentage (.964) in the league's history. Nelson was also named the 2008 SEC Pitcher of the Year.
The Gators open the 2009 season with a three-game series against Baylor, starting Friday, Feb. 6 at 6 p.m. It will mark the first home opener since the 2004 season.
| Rank | Team | 2008 Record | Points | PVS |
| 1. | Florida (18) | 70-5 | 497 | 3 |
| 2.* | Alabama | 58-8 | 466 | 4 |
| 3.* | Arizona State (1) | 66-3 | 432 | 1 |
| 4. | UCLA (1) | 51-9 | 428 | 5 |
| 5.* | Michigan | 52-8 | 384 | 9 |
| 6 | Oklahoma | 47-14 | 378 | 10 |
| 7. | Arizona | 41-19 | 369 | 7 |
| 8. | ULL | 52-15 | 364 | 6 |
| 9. | Stanford | 49-15 | 321 | 13 |
| 10. | Texas A&M | 57-10 | 309 | 2 |
| 11. | Northwestern | 40-16 | 295 | 11 |
| 12.* | Fresno State | 54-13 | 252 | 15 |
| 13.* | Tennessee | 50-16 | 230 | 17 |
| 14. | California | 43-27 | 203 | 14 |
| 15.* | Washington | 30-25-1 | 200 | RV |
| 16. | Houston | 54-11 | 188 | 12 |
| 17.* | LSU | 44-18 | 179 | 19 |
| 18. | DePaul | 51-18 | 166 | 21 |
| 19. | Missouri | 47-17 | 165 | 16 |
| 20. | Long Beach St. | 42-16 | 120 | 22 |
| 21. | North Carolina | 50-12-1 | 107 | 25 |
| 22. | Nevada | 44-18 | 95 | 20 |
| 23.* | Georgia | 46-24 | 89 | 18 |
| 24. | UMass | 42-12 | 86 | 23 |
| 25. | Virginia Tech | 49-19 | 55 | 8 |
* - 2009 Florida regular-season opponent
