After winning the program’s second Colonial Athletic Association championship and winning a program record 44 games, the JMU softball team received its first-ever national ranking, Tuesday.
JMU is ranked 25th in this week’s USA Today/NFCA Top 25 poll with 42 points. The Dukes have previously been the top team in the others receiving votes prior to this week, but have never climbed into the top 25 until today. They are only the second CAA team to receive a top 25 ranking, joining Hofstra in that category.
Madison also checks in at No. 28 in the ESPN.com/USA Softball Collegiate Top 25 this week. It received five votes this week to fall into the others receiving votes category and trail 25th-ranked Wisconsin by 21 votes. DePaul (23 votes) and Texas A&M (10 votes) are the two teams ahead of the JMU in the others receiving votes section.
The NCAA Tournament’s top seed, Oregon, checks in at No. 1 in both polls. The Dukes handed Oregon one of its seven losses this season and are the only team to shutout the Ducks all year.
In the NCAA’s Ratings Percentage Index (RPI) released on Monday, JMU checked in at No. 23. This season, the team has climbed as high as 22 in the RPI and been no lower than 31.
The Dukes are off to the Lexington Regional at the University of Kentucky for the opening round of the NCAA Tournament this weekend. They’ll meet DePaul in the first game at 5 p.m. on Friday, May 16.
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Chris Graham
