The Oklahoma Sooners ended 2016 on top and that is where they will start the 2017 season. The Sooners were ranked #1 in the USA Today/NFCA Coaches Poll and it was unanimous as they received all 32 first-place votes.

The top five is rounded out with Auburn at two, Florida State at three, and a tie for fourth between Florida and LSU. The entire top 25 is listed below.

RankSchool (1st place votes)Points2016 Record2016
Final Rank
1Oklahoma (32)80057-81
2Auburn74558-122
3Florida State68355-104
T-4Florida67156-78
T-4LSU67152-183
6Michigan65552-75
7Alabama63351-146
8UCLA53440-16-19
9Oregon48448-1010
10Arizona46640-2114
11Louisiana-Lafayette44446-912
12Georgia43546-207
13Washington43039-1513
14James Madison41850-611
15Tennessee33143-1617
16Minnesota29543-1420
17Missouri27142-1615
18Utah26636-2116
19Texas A&M25839-2019
20Kentucky25046-1418
21Baylor17145-1421
22Notre Dame12143-1323
23Florida Atlantic8751-924
24Fresno State6542-12-122
25South Florida4745-1625

16 other schools received votes including Oregon State (23), Oklahoma State (22), Texas (17), South Carolina (13), Ole Miss (12), Nebraska (12), and Central Florida (10).

The unanimous number one ranking is a first for Oklahoma and just the fourth time in history a school was ranked as the unanimous #1 in the 23 year history of the NFCA Preseason Poll.

The SEC had nine teams ranked in the top 25 to lead all conferences while the Pac-12 had five schools ranked in the top 25. Neither of those are a surprise given the recent dominance by the SEC and the historical power of the West Coast teams.

Meanwhile, in the ESPN.com/USA Softball Top 25, Oklahoma was also the unanimous number one team. They were followed by Auburn in second, Florida in third, Florida State in fourth, and LSU fifth. The entire top 25 ESPN.com/USA Softball is below.

RankSchool (1st place votes)2016 Record2016
Final Rank
1Oklahoma (20)57-81
2Auburn58-122
3Florida56-78
4Florida State55-103
5LSU52-184
6Michigan52-75
7Alabama51-147
8UCLA40-16-19
9Oregon48-1011
10Georgia46-206
11Louisiana-Lafayette46-914
12Arizona40-2115
13Washington39-1513
14Minnesota43-1419
15Tennessee43-1618
16James Madison50-610
17Utah36-2116
18Texas A&M39-2020
19Missouri42-1612
20Kentucky46-1417
21Baylor45-1421
22Notre Dame43-1325
23Florida Atlantic51-923
T-24California33-24-1NR
T-24South Florida45-16NR

In this poll, Ole Miss (24), Texas (20), Oklahoma State (17), Nebraska (14), Florida International (12), Arizona State (11), Fresno State (10), and Ohio State (10) were among the teams who also received votes.

The 2017 college softball season will begin on Thursday, February 9. The 2016 Women’s College Series Championship Series finalists will be in action as both Auburn and Oklahoma face off in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.

Edit: This article was updated on 2/1/17 to include the ESPN.com/USA Softball poll that was released on January 31, 2017.

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