Jan. 27, 2015
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – The University of Notre Dame softball team officially achieved a preseason milestone never before seen in the illustrious 27-year history of the program on Tuesday. The Irish will begin a season ranked in both of Division I softball’s major polls for the first time after being slotted 21st in the 2015 ESPN.com/USA Softball Collegiate Top 25 Preseason Poll that was released by the Amateur Softball Association (ASA)/USA Softball.
The No. 21 ranking in the ESPN.com/USA Softball preseason top 25 marked the first time Notre Dame has ever been ranked in the initial poll during the 13-year history of the ESPN.com/USA Softball Collegiate Top 25. Notre Dame was previously selected as the No. 22 team in the USA Today/National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) Division I Preseason Top 25 on Jan. 20, its first time ranked in the preseason coaches poll since 2003.
A total of 14 of Notre Dame’s 36 scheduled opponents for the 2015 season were either ranked in the ESPN.com/USA Softball preseason top 25 or were among teams receiving votes. The Irish will square off with No. 5 Florida State (March 14-15), No. 6 UCLA (Feb. 6), No. 10 Georgia (Feb. 21), No. 14 Tennessee (Feb. 19), No. 17 Missouri (Feb. 27), No. 18 LSU (Feb. 14-15) and No. 25 Texas (Feb. 21) during the upcoming season.
Notre Dame and Florida State were the only two Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) teams included in the top 25 of the preseason ESPN.com/USA Softball rankings, with North Carolina State (18 votes), North Carolina (seven votes), Louisville (six votes) and Virginia Tech (one vote) each receiving votes.
Notre Dame made its 16th consecutive appearance, and earned its 19th overall bid in 26 seasons of varsity competition, in the NCAA Championship in 2014, finishing the season with a 41-13 record after competing in the NCAA Los Angeles Regional. The Irish placed second in the ACC regular-season standings with a 16-5 league mark in their inaugural campaign in the conference, ultimately reaching the final game of the ACC Championship tournament in College Park, Md. Notre Dame also surpassed the 40-win plateau for the 16th time in its history, a watermark the Irish have attained in 10 of the last 13 seasons since Deanna Gumpf became the program’s head coach in 2002.
Team records set by the 2014 Notre Dame team included the highest batting average (.357) and most doubles (107, 1.98 doubles per game) in a single season in program history, figures that also led all Division I teams in the NCAA. The Irish, who also had a team-best 533 hits and a .419 on-base percentage, also finished second nationally with a .552 slugging percentage and were seventh in scoring after tallying 6.69 runs per game. Notre Dame was ranked among the national top 25 teams over the final 14 weeks of 2014, tying a program record set by the 2001 Irish team (54-7) for consecutive weeks appearing in the national polls during a single season.
Notre Dame players have become familiar names in relation to ASA/USA Softball accolades dating back to the 2013 season. Amy Buntin (’13) was named to the USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year Top 50 “Watch List” in 2013 after copping NFCA All-America second team honors as a junior the previous year. Later in 2013, current senior co-captain and two-time NFCA All-American Emilee Koerner became the first player in Notre Dame history to finish as a USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year Top 10 finalist after a record-setting sophomore campaign. Koerner and Laura Winter (’14) were each selected to the 2014 USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year Top 50 “Watch List”.
Winter previously made Irish softball history by becoming the first Notre Dame player ever to be named USA Softball National Collegiate Player of the Week when she achieved that feat on April 23, 2013. It was the first of two national weekly honors the standout junior would claim that season, as she later earned Louisville Slugger/NFCA Division I National Player of the Week accolades on May 7.
For the latest news and updates on all things Notre Dame softball, visit www.und.com/softball, follow the Irish @NDsoftball and @NDcoachGumpf on Twitter and at Instagram.com/notredamesoftball, and Like the team at Facebook.com/NDSoftball.
ESPN.com/USA Softball Collegiate Top 25
2015 Season – Pre-season – January 27, 2015
|
Rank |
Team |
2014 Record |
Points |
Final 2014 Ranking |
|
1. |
Florida (15) |
55-12 |
492 |
1 |
|
2. |
Oregon (4) |
56-9-1 |
475 |
3 |
|
3. |
Oklahoma |
51-13 |
429 |
4 |
|
4. |
Alabama |
53-13 |
423 |
2 |
|
5. |
*Florida State |
55-9 |
417 |
7 |
|
6. |
*UCLA (1) |
52-8 |
391 |
9 |
|
7. |
Kentucky |
50-19 |
374 |
6 |
|
8. |
Michigan |
47-15 |
367 |
10 |
|
9. |
UL-Lafayette |
49-10-1 |
318 |
8 |
|
10. |
*Georgia |
49-15 |
290 |
12 |
|
11. |
Baylor |
49-16 |
280 |
5 |
|
12. |
Arizona |
44-16 |
266 |
T14 |
|
13. |
Washington |
37-15 |
251 |
13 |
|
14. |
*Tennessee |
46-12 |
239 |
11 |
|
15. |
Minnesota |
44-12 |
210 |
T14 |
|
16. |
Arizona State |
46-12-1 |
197 |
16 |
|
17. |
*Missouri |
43-18 |
185 |
18 |
|
18. |
*LSU |
38-24 |
177 |
22 |
|
19. |
Auburn |
42-19-1 |
162 |
21 |
|
20. |
Nebraska |
44-18 |
122 |
17 |
|
21. |
NOTRE DAME |
41-13 |
98 |
20 |
|
22. |
Tulsa |
53-9 |
61 |
19 |
|
23. |
South Alabama |
42-14 |
59 |
23 |
|
24. |
Texas A&M |
37-22 |
32 |
RV |
|
25. |
*Texas |
35-23 |
31 |
RV |
Parenthesis denotes first place votes.
Others receiving votes: Wisconsin (26), *DePaul (24), USC Upstate (20), *North Carolina State (18), James Madison (15), Central Florida (13), *North Carolina (7), Louisville (6), California (5), Stanford (4), South Carolina (4), *Cal State Fullerton (3), Western Kentucky (3), *Northwestern (2), *Mississippi State (2), South Florida (1), *Virginia Tech (1)
*- 2015 Notre Dame scheduled opponent
–ND–
— Tony Jones, Media Relations Assistant