RPI was not as kind to the Wildcats
A weekend sweep of Utah pushed Arizona softball back into the top 10 of all four polls. The RPI wasn’t so kind as the Wildcats took a big slide despite winning all of its games.
The two larger polls both have Arizona at No. 10 this week. The USA Today/NFCA poll moved the Wildcats up one spot to 10th place after their showing this week. ESPN.com/USA Softball did the same, although UA is tied with South Carolina for that spot in this poll.
Arizona also made a move in the D1 Softball poll. The Wildcats moved up one spot to No. 9 in the outlet’s smaller poll. Softball America, which runs the other smaller poll. has them at No. 7. That’s where the outlet had them last week, too.
The bigger problem for the Wildcats is what Big 12 competition is doing to their RPI. Despite the sweep, Arizona dropped from No. 5 on Mar. 13 to No. 12 on Mar. 17. Part of that is related to who the Wildcats played. Utah is at No. 104.
The other concern for the Wildcats is what previous opponents are doing. Arizona swept Cal State Fullerton in two games at home and one at Fullerton. Fullerton played a challenging nonconference schedule, including wins over the NFCA’s No. 3 LSU and then-No. 20 San Diego State, and games against No. 1 Oklahoma, No. 6 UCLA, No. 10 Arizona, and No. 14 Arkansas. Things were difficult in conference play this week, though. The Titans were swept by UC Santa Barbara, a team that is 118 in RPI.
The Wildcats remain the top-ranked team out of the Big 12. The NFCA has Texas Tech at No. 12 and Oklahoma State at No. 15. Arizona State is receiving votes from both the NFCA and USA Softball. The Sun Devils’ only appearance in the top 25 comes at No. 23 in the D1 Softball rankings. UCF dropped out of the rankings after going 1-2 at home against ASU.
Arizona’s next opponent is GCU, which is No. 24 according to the NFCA. The Wildcats take on the Lopes at GCU Softball Stadium on Wednesday at 7 p.m. MST. The game will be streamed on ESPN+.
UA starts its three-game Big 12 series against ASU at Farrington Stadium two days later. Friday’s game starts at 6 p.m. MST. Saturday will be at 5 p.m. MST. Things wrap up on Sunday starting at 1 p.m. MST. Those games will also stream on ESPN+.
Lead photo courtesy of Arizona Athletics