Alabama Softball Drops in Rankings Following Series Loss

Despite moving down a few spots in the polls, the Crimson Tide still remains a top-three RPI team.

Katie Windham | Apr 26, 2022

For the first time since the opening weekend of SEC play, Alabama softball lost a weekend series. The Crimson Tide dropped two of three at Texas A&M over the weekend, which also marked the first time Alabama had lost to an unranked opponent this year.

The teams directly behind Alabama in the polls all handled business in their series, including Arkansas sweeping Florida in Gainesville. The two losses combined with the other top-eight teams winnings caused Alabama to drop from the No. 2 spot down in all the major college softball polls.

#Team26 in this week's national rankings pic.twitter.com/Dr8QdiNjio
— Alabama Softball (@AlabamaSB) April 26, 2022

Despite the series loss, Alabama's strength of schedule is high enough to keep the Crimson Tide at No. 3 in the RPI, which is one of the main metrics the selection committee uses for seeding in the NCAA tournament. x

While the regular season SEC title is likely off the table at this point, Alabama still wants to finish strong and maintain a top-eight seed in the NCAA tournament in order to host regionals and super regionals at home at Rhoads Stadium. Alabama has not had to travel for a super regional since 2018.

The Crimson Tide plays a midweek game at Western Kentucky on Wednesday at 4 p.m. and is off this weekend before wrapping up regular season play with a three game series hosting Missouri starting May 6.

ESPN/USA Softball Rankings

1. Oklahoma (42-1)

2. Virginia Tech (36-6)

3. UCLA (36-5)

4. Florida State (43-5)

5. Arkansas (35-8)

6. Alabama (39-8)

7. Oklahoma State (38-7)

8. Northwestern (34-7)

9. Arizona State (32-7)

10. Florida (35-12)

11. Washington (28-11)

12. Tennessee (33-13)

13. Duke (36-7)

14. Kentucky (30-13)

15. Georgia (37-11)

16. Texas (32-15-1)

17. Clemson (32-14)

18. Auburn (36-10)

19. LSU (30-17)

20. UCF (39-11)

21. Stanford (31-13)

22. Michigan (29-14)

23. Notre Dame (35-9)

24. Oregon (26-16)

25. Missouri (27-17)

Published Apr 26, 2022

KATIE WINDHAM

Katie Windham is the assistant editor for BamaCentral, primarily covering football, basketball gymnastics and softball. She is a two-time graduate of the University of Alabama and has covered a variety of Crimson Tide athletics since 2019 for outlets like The Tuscaloosa News, The Crimson White and the Associated Press before joining BamaCentral full time in 2021. Windham has covered College Football Playoff games, the Women's College World Series, NCAA March Madness, SEC Tournaments and championships in multiple sports.