April 10, 2002

WACO, Texas - Baylor softball jumped two spots in this week's USA Today/NFCA Top 25, landing at No. 22. The Lady Bears are one of five Big 12 Conference teams ranked, and enter tonight's game at No. 18 Texas in third place in the conference standings.

Arizona dethroned UCLA as the nation's top team after the teams split a two-game series in Tucson, Ariz., over the weekend. The Bruins, who had been ranked No. 1 for six consecutive weeks, dropped to No. 2. Arizona and UCLA are the only teams to have held the top spot this season. Stanford is ranked third, followed by Nebraska, Louisiana State, Arizona State, Cal State Fullerton, California, Oklahoma and Washington.

Texas A&M gives the Big 12 its fifth ranked team at No. 24. Two other of Baylor's 2002 opponents are in this week's poll, Fresno State, a 2-1 loser to Baylor last month, is tied with Michigan at No. 12, and Ohio State rounds out the poll at No. 25.

Baylor (40-11, 7-3) is enjoying the best season in school history, having already established a school mark for victories in a season with at least 10 games remaining. The Lady Bears have broken or tied 32 season and game school records in 2002.

After tonight's tilt at Texas, the Lady Bears host Iowa State over the weekend in a two-game series. Baylor and ISU play Saturday at 2 p.m. CDT and Sunday at Noon.

For the complete USA Today/NFCA Top 25, go to www.nfca.org.