Cajuns Ranked No. 10 In Final Top 25 Softball Polls

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Louisiana registers Top 10 ranking for the second straight season

LOUISIANA La. - Louisiana's Ragin' Cajuns softball team finished the 2004 season right where it began - in the Top 10 of the national polls.

The National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) and USA Softball/ESPN.com released their respective final Top 25 polls for the 2004 season on Wednesday and both found the Cajuns of head coach Stefni Lotief ranked in the 10th slot (No. 10).

The Lady Cajuns (60-8) finished in the Top 10 of the national polls for the second straight season after garnering a No. 8 finish in 2003.

The Cajuns found themselves ranked higher than Georgia, Oregon, Alabama, Nebraska and Oregon State, to name a few - all squads seeded higher than them in the NCAA Regionals.

Louisiana spent the final 10 weeks of the regular season as a member of the Top 10 and all but two. The Cajuns re-entered the elusive group on March 9 and remained there the rest of the season.

The Cajuns ended the 2004 season with a 60-8 record overall and a 18-0 Sun Belt Conference record. Louisiana set the school record for wins and became the first Sun Belt school to finish regular season play undefeated.

The Lady Cajuns made their sixth straight NCAA Tournament appearance since 1999 and 14th in the last 15 years. UL Lafayette's appearance in the regional final marked the program's 11th appearance on Championship Sunday.

Louisiana also won its fourth straight Sun Belt Conference regular season title and fifth straight SBC Tournament championship as the Cajuns remain the only champion that the league has ever known.

USA Today Final Softball Rankings

Rank	Team	Record	Pts	Pvs
1	UCLA (25)	46-9	625	5
2	California	53-13	599	2
3	LSU	57-12	570	3
4	Stanford	49-19	544	8
5	Florida State	62-12	518	4
6	Oklahoma	45-22-1	491	21
7	Washington	40-19	466	7
8	Arizona	55-6	451	1
9	Michigan	54-13	427	6
10	Louisiana	60-8	383	9
11	Georgia	55-17	362	10
12	Oregon	42-21	347	13
13	Alabama	45-20	335	15
14	Nebraska	45-17	314	14
15	Oregon State	44-28	266	20
16	South Florida	60-14	212	17
17	Illinois	45-21-1	196	NR
18	Tennessee	55-16	182	11
19	Baylor	48-17	163	19
19	Long Beach State	51-13	163	18
21	Hofstra	38-20	113	NR
22	Georgia Tech	47-19	89	NR
23	Auburn	42-18	80	12
24	Southern Illinois	45-17	52	NR
25	Fresno State	48-20	48	16
26	Florida Atlantic		32	NR
27	Texas A&M		21	NR
28	Northwestern		14	NR
28	Florida		14	NR
30	Notre Dame		13	NR
31	Creighton		11	NR
32	Illinois-Chicago		10	NR
32	Pacific		10	NR
34	Michigan State		8	NR
35	Tulsa		6	NR
36	Seton Hall		2	NR

LOUISIANA SI

[shof]

Seems like a "fair" ranking for a team that fell just short of the world series. Did not look to see who was at number 9. But then again, we all know that the rankings don't mean anything :<)

[Turbine]

Originally posted by shof
Seems like a "fair" ranking for a team that fell just short of the world series. Did not look to see who was at number 9. But then again, we all know that the rankings don't mean anything :<)

I agree.

It was Oklahoma that bumped Louisiana down a notch.

I still think UL is better and if they were a #2 seed would have done some serious damage in the WCWS. Still I can'targue with Oklahoma'a ranking, they did good in the WS and by all appearances deserve the ranking.

There is no way Arizona would drop from #1 to out of the top 10, so a #10 ranking for Louisiana makes sense.