| BSB/SB šŸ„Ž D1Softball's preseason top-25 has Bama at #6. {SEC Coaches pre-season poll; Bama picked to finish 4th in the SEC.)

ESPN/USA poll out today... Going to be silly when OU and Texas join those bold SEC teams...

ESPN.com/USA Softball Preseason Collegiate Top 25
1. Oklahoma
2. UCLA
3. Oklahoma State
4. Florida State
5. Florida
6. Arkansas
7. Alabama

8. Northwestern
9. Texas
10. Clemson
11. Virginia Tech
12. Tennessee
13. Georgia

14. Stanford
15. Arizona
16. Washington
17. Kentucky
18. UCF
19. Duke
20. LSU
21. Auburn

22. Oregon
23. Missouri
24. Louisiana
25. Oregon State
 
Extra Inning Softball preseason rankings came out today.

1Oklahoma
2UCLA
3Oklahoma State
4Florida State
5Florida
6Northwestern
7Tennessee
8Stanford
9Clemson
10Virginia Tech
11Alabama
12Arkansas
13Texas
14LSU
15Georgia
16UCF
17Oregon
18Louisiana-Lafayette
19Kentucky
20Washington
21Nebraska
22Notre Dame
23Auburn
24Arizona
25North Texas
 
As far as pitcher rankings go, Extra Inning Softball ranked the top 25 pitchers in the country last week. Here is their list.

Their #1 is Kelly Maxwell from Oklahoma State.

2Megan FaraimoRHPUCLA
3Kathryn SandercockRHPFlorida State
4Montana FoutsRHPAlabama
5Valerie CagleRHPClemson
6Jordy BahlRHPOklahoma
7Danielle WilliamsLHPNorthwestern
8Ashley RogersRHPTennessee
9Chenise DelceRHPArkansas
10Alana VawterRHPStanford

The did have Ally Shipman as the #7 Catcher, Ashley Prange as the #11 3B, Bailey Dowling as the #14 SS, and Faith Hensley as the #19 Oufielder in the country.
 
I was fortunate enough to go to the Alabama Softball coach's clinic this past Saturday and got to see the team practice for the first time this season. A couple of things that stood out to me about this team that others may not know yet is the new reclassified Freshman Kenleigh Cahalan is absolutely amazing. She has the second-best glove on the team behind Prange in my opinion and she looks to be battling Dowling for starting SS. My guess is she will start at 2B. We never saw her work at 2B but it is just a hunch. Also the lefty transfer pitcher from Michigan Lauren Esman will do quite well in the circle for us this year as a change of pace from Montana. The new pitching coach, Lance McMahon (great hire) has brought a little different pitching philosophy so I think that will actually help some as well.

While all the coaching roles were extremely easy to figure out (Murphy has infield, Ally has outfield, Ryan has catchers, Lance has pitchers), I was still left questioning who was in charge of hitting. Ryan seemed to potentially be in charge of it but it honestly wasn't clear to me. They did change their hitting routine up greatly from last season which obviously I hope pays off but it still baffles me that we don't have that major part of the game cleared up.

I still expect a very strong season from us with hopefully a trip to the WCWS as an outside chance.
 
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