USAO Drops to 8th
in NAIA Softball Poll
With
a 6-3 record last week, the USAO softball team dropped two spots in the
fourth NAIA softball poll of the season. The Drovers were ranked No. 8 in
the top 25 poll, released late Wednesday on the NAIA Web site. USAO also
slipped to No. 3 in the Region VI rankings.
Currently,
USAO is 35-10 overall and 11-3 in the Sooner Athletic Conference. The
Drovers are coming off a doubleheader sweep Tuesday at Southern Nazarene,
and have won seven of their last nine, including a second-place finish at
the Capital City Classic.
USAO
is a game behind Oklahoma City University in the SAC standings. The
Drovers finish this week with a home doubleheader Thursday against
Oklahoma Baptist, and the Pittsburg State, Kan., Tournament on Friday and
Saturday.
Junior
Dana Askins leads the team with a .388 batting average, along with 10
doubles, six triples, and 17 stolen bases. Junior Nikki Aguilar has a
team-best five home runs and 30 RBIs. Askins also boasts an 18-5 pitching
record, 151 strikeouts, and an SAC-best 0.55 earned-run average. Junior
Kindra Gregory is 17-5 with a 1.18 ERA and 103 strikeouts. Askins and
Gregory also have combined for a league-best 0.83 ERA.
Houston
Baptist tops the Region VI rankings, followed by OCU, USAO, Bacone and St.
Gregory’s. Occupying the bottom half of the regional top 10 are OBU,
Northwestern, Oklahoma Christian, Northwood, Texas, and Texas Wesleyan.
Thomas,
Ga., leads the NAIA top 25 poll with a 31-4 record and nine first-place
votes. Houston Baptist (27-1) is ranked second and received three
first-place votes. Mobile, Ala, California Baptist and Simon Fraser, B.C.,
round out the top five.
Oklahoma
City (29-9) moved up two spots to No. 6, while Bacone also improved two
spots to No. 11 in the survey. For the first time this season, St.
Gregory’s slipped into the poll at No. 24, after receiving 18 votes last
week.
To
view the complete poll and the regional rankings, log on to the NAIA’s
Web site at www.naia.org.
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