Posted 04/23/17, 2:37 PM

DALLAS (AM News Net)  – The NCAA Softball Championship Committee has released their first top ten ranking on Saturday. The list, announced during the Oregon vs. Arizona game, ranked Florida on top.

The Gators, who were top-seeded last season, were knocked out in a shock upset by Georgia in March of 2016. Now ranked number one, it is clear Florida is still looking for a national title and means it.

Interestingly, Florida State (#4, 41-3-1), Auburn (#5, 37-7), and UCLA (#10, 3012) are the only teams that competed in the 2016 WCWS that are on the list. National title winners, the Oklahoma Sooners, are not to be found.

“These rankings are a chance to spread awareness and exposure, and provide education and engagement to fans, media and the general public,"  Keisha Dunlap, chair of the committee and Senior Associate Commissioner at Conference USA said. "We had great discussions regarding the teams and look forward to our next ranking in a few weeks.”

Teams still have time to keep playing and win, and earn a spot in conference championships. Rankings of teams include the difficulty of their schedules, win-loss ratio, where their games are played, and more.

"While there is still a lot of softball left to be played, this ranking was a great exercise for the committee," Dunlap said. "We had a robust discussion surrounding several selection criteria and were able to utilize dialogue from the eight regional advisory committees to rank the teams who we feel have already built impressive resumes,” 

Though teams should not fear, the rankings have no effect on the final bracket for this year's WCWS.

More information and the complete top ten rankings can be found here.

More college sports coverage from AM News Net can be found here.

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