Fansided

College softball rankings – Top 25: Georgia knocks down South Carolina

By Ethan Lee

JAKARTA, INDONESIA - MAY 03: Official balls Mizuno 150 are seen during the match between Hong Kong and Indonesia on day three of the 12th Softball Women's Asia Cup on May 03, 2019 in Jakarta, Indonesia. (Photo by Robertus Pudyanto/Getty Images)
JAKARTA, INDONESIA - MAY 03: Official balls Mizuno 150 are seen during the match between Hong Kong and Indonesia on day three of the 12th Softball Women's Asia Cup on May 03, 2019 in Jakarta, Indonesia. (Photo by Robertus Pudyanto/Getty Images) /
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The Georgia Bulldogs showed they’re one of the best college softball teams around with a commanding SEC series win over the South Carolina Gamecocks.

South Carolina has a pretty good team this year. Georgia very well may be one of the best teams in college softball this season. The Bulldogs showed how resilient they can be with an extra-innings win over USC for a Game 2 win. In Game 3, UGA showed its potential by running the score up and winning big in five innings.

Over in Waco, the Baylor Bears had a weekend off, but in their last game, they fell to the University of Texas-Arlington. The Bears dropped a few spots in the new FanSided college softball rankings because of that. Weird games happen in sports with long seasons such as baseball and softball, but this is a game the Bears should have won in convincing fashion.

Up in Oklahoma, the Sooners and the Cowgirls both showed they were better than a pretty good Pac-12 team. Utah took an interesting road trip in which the Utes stopped in both Norman and Stillwater. Utah got a couple of wins during a four-game stretch but was unable to beat either Oklahoma or Oklahoma State.

Here’s what the top 25 looks like this week:

FanSided Top 25 college softball rankings

  1. UCLA
  2. Washington
  3. Texas
  4. Arizona
  5. Louisiana
  6. Georgia
  7. LSU
  8. Oklahoma
  9. Florida
  10. Virginia Tech
  11. Duke
  12. Oregon
  13. Baylor
  14. Missouri
  15. Arizona State
  16. Mississippi State
  17. Iowa
  18. Stanford
  19. Kentucky
  20. Alabama
  21. South Carolina
  22. Arkansas
  23. Florida State
  24. Texas Tech
  25. Oklahoma State

Teams on the rise: Oregon, Mississippi State

While UCLA and Washington will dominate headlines this year, the Oregon Ducks could prove to be a legitimate challenge for the Pac-12 crown this season. At 19-2 so far, Oregon simply keeps on winning. The Ducks have a few notable wins already (Mississippi State, Houston) and will likely get a few more before the season is through.

Meanwhile, Mississippi State is on a 13-game winning streak, has more wins than any other SEC team with 24 and also has the highest overall win percentage in the conference. But this isn’t the first time the Bulldogs have jumped out to a hot start and they’ve got a tough task up ahead of them with SEC play on the horizon. We’ll find out just how good MSU is when the Bulldogs face tougher opponents.

Teams trending down: Utah, South Carolina

Over the weekend, Utah traveled on over to Oklahoma to play in both Norman and Stillwater. The Utes beat Mercer in both locations but got thumped by their hosts in both locations. The Sooners defeated Utah 10-2 in five innings. Not to be outdone, the Cowgirls took down Utah 11-2 in six innings.

South Carolina got off to a great start in SEC play and then things completely and totally fell apart for the Gamecocks. With a game one win over Georgia, the Gamecocks had a couple of chances to get a good win to get conference play started. UGA had other plans. The Bulldogs won a closely contested Game 2 and then run-ruled the Gamecocks in Game 3. That’s not a good way to get your conference schedule started, South Carolina. The Gamecocks still look like a great team though and have plenty of opportunities up ahead to move up in the SEC standings.

Teams on the outside looking in: Houston, Central Florida

We’re about to find out just how good the Houston Cougars are. UH is 16-5 so far this season but hasn’t played against many notable teams. Houston needs a couple of notable wins if the Cougars are going to jump into the Top 25 and they’ve got a shot to get two solid wins as the Cougars play a doubleheader against the Baylor Bears Tuesday. Even splitting that matchup will help UH’s resume out.

Central Florida has shown it means business this season. The Knights have plenty of notable wins (Tennessee twice, Michigan, Duke) but a couple of ugly losses as well. UCF is definitely a team to keep an eye on as it could cause problems for many of the bigger name schools in the NCAA Tournament this year. I’m not sure how far UH or UCF can go this season but they’re definitely teams worth paying attention to.