Southern Illinoise University Athletics
Softball Earns First Ever Top 25 National Ranking
04/29/2003 | 12:00:00 | Softball
April 29, 2003
Carbondale, Ill. - After being so close for the last three weeks, the Southern Illinois University softball team finally cracked into the Top 25 with a #25 ranking in the National Fastpitch Coaching Association (NFCA) Top 25 poll released on Tuesday. The Salukis received 21 votes, replacing Florida in the 25th spot in the poll. SIU was #26 in last week's poll.
"I'm extremely happy for the players because they deserve this recognition and have played very well the last 11 weeks that we've been ranked. It's so gratifying as a mid-major program ... we fight to earn national recognition and the 16 ladies have played so well this year. This ranking says a lot about this team because we've had some very good teams here," said an ecstatic Kerri Blaylock, fourth-year SIU head coach and a member of the SIU staff for 14 years.
"This is so huge for our recruiting efforts. This tells people all over the country that we have a quality program. I credit my staff of Buddy Foster and Skip Cosgrove for their efforts to recruit, work with these kids and help me bring this team together. I've been here a long time and this is very exciting."
The Salukis went 3-2 last week with a split of a doubleheader on the road against St. Louis last Thursday. Over the weekend, the Salukis took two of three games from Illinois State in an MVC series between the top two teams.
The Salukis actually dropped two spots to #29 in the ESPN.com/USA Softball Top 25 poll with 4 votes. SIU was #27 in both the ESPN.com/USA Softball poll last week.
SIU's run of 11 weeks in the NFCA poll is the longest run in a national poll in school history. The first 2003 ranking 11 weeks ago was SIU's first since the late 1990s, when the Salukis were ranked in the thirties in the NFCA poll.
