LOUISVILLE, Ky. – For the third time this season, Oregon grabbed the top spot in the USA Today/NFCA Division I Top 25 Poll, announced Tuesday by the Association.

Receiving 18 first place votes and 786 points, the Ducks (44-5) returned to their familiar spot after sweeping then-No. 18 California in convincing fashion over the weekend. Oregon opened with a 5-2 win on Friday night and then outscored the Bears 26-1 in a pair of run-rule victories (9-0 / 17-1) on Saturday and Sunday. The victories extended a pair of winning streaks for the Ducks, who have won 14 straight and 11 consecutive Pac-12 games.

The Gators (49-5) picked up the final 14 first-place nods and are just six points (780) behind the Ducks in the No. 2 position. In the first of two tightly contested SEC series, five total runs decided the outcome of all three games in Columbia, Mo. UF edged then-No. 11 Missouri 7-6 and 9-6 in the first two contests, before the Tigers salvaged game three, 3-2 in eight innings, snapping the Gators’ 17-game winning streak. With those two wins, coupled by an Auburn defeat on Sunday, UF claimed its fifth SEC regular season title and the top seed at the league tournament.

The third, fourth and fifth ranked programs stayed put for a second straight week. Riding a 17-game winning streak, No. 3 Michigan (48-6) was crowned Big Ten regular season champions for the eighth consecutive season. The Wolverines swept through Penn State in their league series (8-0, 14-2, 10-2) for the outright league title and will face either Maryland or the Nittany Lions in their first Big Ten tournament game.

The Crimson Tide (41-11) swept their final SEC series with three road wins at Arkansas (9-1 / 14-2 / 1-0) and will be the third seed at the conference tournament. The Sooners (45-7) picked up three non-conference victories before entering the final week of Big 12 play. OU topped North Texas (6-2) on the road, thanks to Lauren Chamberlain’s go-ahead grand slam and NCAA-record 91^st career home run. The Sooners then shut out Utah Valley State (13-0 / 14-0), which saw freshman Paige Parker twirl her fourth perfect game of the series in the finale, matching a Division I single-season record.

UCLA and Auburn shifted up one spot each to No. 6 and 7, respectively as LSU fell two spots to No. 8. In a battle of Tigers, the orange and blue Tigers of Auburn earned two hard-fought one-run (2-1 / 1-0) wins in Baton Rouge, La. Before the purple and gold Tigers of LSU came out on top in the finale, 7-1. With the two triumphs, AU finishes second in the SEC, its highest finish ever. By virtue of its game-three triumph, LSU, the host of the 2015 SEC Tournament, slid into the fourth seed and earned the final first-round bye in the single-elimination tournament.

Rounding out the top 10 are No. 9 Florida State (42-12) and No. 10 Louisiana-Lafayette (37-8). There was some shifting throughout the rest of the poll, but all 25 teams remained the same for the third straight week 

The regular season winds down this week with several conference tournaments and culminates with the announcement of the 64-team field for the 2015 Women’s College World Series on Sunday at 10:00 p.m. ET.

The USA Today/NFCA Division I Top 25 Poll is voted on by 32 NCAA Division I head coaches, one representing each conference.  Current 2015 records are shown and first-place votes are in parentheses.

USA Today/NFCA Division I Softball Poll – May 5, 2015

New to Poll: None

Dropped out: None 

Others Receiving Votes: North Dakota State (42), Utah (26), Texas (13), USC Upstate (9), Kansas (5), Western Kentucky (4), South Carolina (3), Cal State Northridge (1), Hofstra (1), North Carolina State (1).