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24 in a row

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By Dave Cooney - bio | email

Posted by Dave Cooney: email

TUCSON, Ariz. – It is business as usual for the Arizona softball team as it receives its 24th straight preseason top-10 ranking. The Wildcats were ranked eighth by both polls (USA Today/NFCA and ESPN.com/USA Softball).

At eighth, Arizona is the highest-ranked team not to make the 2011 Women's College World Series.

Defending champion ASU is ranked No. 1 in both set of rankings, receiving all but one of the combined 50 votes in the polls. Arizona and UCLA split top-ranked honors in 2011 and neither team made it to the WCWS.

The Pac-12 led all conferences with seven of its nine teams ranked in both polls. The Pac-12 teams in the top-25 are as follows: ASU (1/1), California (4/3), Arizona (8/8), Stanford (9/10), Washington (12/14), Oregon (16/11) and UCLA (19/13).

The Sun Devils were a unanimous No. 1 in the USA Today/NFCA Division I Top 25. The SEC claimed the next two slots with Florida and Alabama ranked No. 2 and No. 3, respectively. California is ranked fourth and Oklahoma, which denied Arizona the 2011 WCWS, is ranked fifth.

Alabama is ranked second behind ASU in the ESPN.com/USA Softball Collegiate Top 25 Poll. California, which finished 2011 with a 45-13 record, is ranked third. Florida received one vote for No. 1 and is ranked fourth. Missouri rounds out the top five with 411 votes.

Twenty-six of Arizona's 56 games will be played against preseason top-25 teams, including 14 top-10 squads.

Arizona begins its season Feb. 9 when it travels to Tempe for the Kajikawa Classic.

ESPN.com/USA Softball Collegiate Top 25

Rank Team 2011 Record Points Final 2011 Ranking

1. Arizona State (19) 60-6 497 1

2. Alabama 53-11 438 3

3. California 45-13 425 5

4. Florida (1) 56-13 420 2

5. Missouri 53-10 411 6

6. Oklahoma 43-19 408 7

7. Baylor 47-15 372 4

8. Arizona 43-18 331 11