Texas softball finishes 2020 season ranked No. 1

By Steve Lansdale

AUSTIN, Texas — The 2020 softball season will be remembered, as is the case with all NCAA spring sports, as a year like no other, as competition was suddenly halted by the coronavirus pandemic.

But in the years ahead, the record books will show that the team that finished the year atop the Softball America poll was the Texas Longhorns. The Horns finished the campaign with a 24-3 record, and racked up victories over five ranked teams.

It made the abbreviated 2020 season the first time UT[s2If current_user_can(access_s2member_level2)] finished ended the season ranked No. 1, and the first time the Horns had been on top of the rankings for three weeks in any season.

Texas was joined in the final SA ranking by three other teams from the Big 12: Oklahoma finished the season in the No. 5 spot, followed by No. 8 Oklahoma State and No. 24 Baylor.

Included among the Longhorns’ victories were wins over a pair of teams ranked among the top three teams that finished the season right behind UT in the final poll: No. 2 UCLA and No. 3 Washington; UCLA’s loss to Texas was its only setback of its 25-1 season. UT also beat two other teams that ended the year ranked in the top 25: No. 9 Louisiana and No. 19 Michigan.

The Longhorns led the nation in team batting average (.376) and smacked 62 doubles, the most by any team in the country. They mustered eight come-from-behind wins, went 5-1 against ranked teams — UCLA and Washington were ranked No. 1 and No. 2, respectively, when they fell to the Horns in consecutive games — and scored more runs (199) through 27 games than any other team in program history.

Final Softball America 2020 rankings

1. Texas
2. UCLA
3. Washington
4. Arizona
5. Oklahoma
6. LSU
7. Florida
8. Oklahoma State
9. Louisiana
10. Florida State
11. Kentucky
12. Alabama
13. Oregon
14. Georgia
15. South Carolina
16. Arizona State
17. Missouri
18. Virginia Tech
19. Michigan
20. Arkansas
21. Minnesota
22. UCF
23. Fresno State
24. Baylor
25. Mississippi State
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