Division 1 is the highest intercollegiate athletic level with strong skilled athletes from all over the country. Division 1 softball is known for its fast pace and high intensity level. The females that occupy these teams are definitely proving their worth according to the rankings in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). Both the Southeastern and Pacific (Pac-12) conferences are showing stand out performances.
In the Southeastern conference, one team to watch out for this season is Florida who is currently ranked at number one. Following Florida is Louisiana, ranked second, and Auburn is third. Not far behind is Alabama ranked number six, with Missouri in the eighth spot.
The Southeastern conference is an athletic conference based primarily in the southeastern part of the United States. The division 1 colleges that make up the conference are Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Missouri, South Carolina, Tennessee, Vanderbilt, Alabama, Arkansas, Auburn, Louisiana, Mississippi, Mississippi State, and Texas A + M.
There are many teams in the Southeastern Conference that are showing stellar performances in the NCAA. Florida, Louisiana, and Auburn are all ranked at number one.
Standout performances include; junior shortstop, Bianka Bell of Louisiana, who has a batting average of .532, and Auburn’s junior outfielder Tiffany Howard, who has a batting average of .522.
Two pitchers to look out for this season are Baylee Corbello of Louisiana and Nickie Blue of South Carolina. Baylee Corbello is a sophomore pitching an Earned Run Average (ERA) of .99 and Nickie Blue is also a sophomore pitching an ERA of .106. Both these averages are hard to maintain as a division 1 college pitcher.
On the schedule for next week, Missouri travels to take on Georgia, Alabama is at Kentucky, and Mississippi State is at Arkansas.
For the ninth-consecutive year, the Pac-12 had the most NCAA titles or tied for the most of any conference in the country, winning at least six every year since 2000-01. In those titles, 23 of them belong to softball.
The softball teams that make up the Pac-12 conference are Oregon, University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA), Arizona State, California, Oregon State, Arizona, Washington, Utah, and Stanford.
The two teams currently rising to the top early on in the season are Oregon, and UCLA. Oregon is 8-1 in conference while UCLA is right behind at 5-1. Below these two teams is Arizona State at 5-3 in conference play.
Leading in the way of batting is junior outfielder, Allexis Bennett of UCLA. She is currently batting an average of .515. Also ranked, from California, a freshman outfielder. Jazmyn Jackson is holding a batting average of .467.
Oregon’s own pitcher Cheridan Hawkins was named Pitcher of the week for the second-straight week. She has an outstanding ERA of .43. Hawkins has 122 strikeouts in 97 innings of play. Pitcher Miranda Viramontes, from Utah, earned freshman of the week.
Viramontes picked up her eighth win of the season from the mound on Friday. She held just five runs in her eleven innings of work, having nine strikeouts in two games. She tied her career high with five strikeouts in four innings.
Coming up this week, top-ranked UCLA takes on Oregon as both come off series sweeps while, Arizona is hosting Stanford. Arizona State will also head to face California, who is currently on a nine-game win streak.