With the most recent ESPN.com/USA Softball poll (Week 2) showing eight of the Top 10 teams being from the SEC (No. 1 Texas, No. 2 Oklahoma, No. 3 Florida, No. 5 LSU, No. 6 Texas A&M, No. 7 Tennessee, No. 9 Georgia, and No. 10 Arkansas), it's very tempting to just wait for SEC conference play to begin. At that point, the teams will be playing three-game series against each other, which will be a better gauge of the teams' relative standing than some early-season tournaments. At this point, we have only a fragmentary sense of how good these teams are.
Texas is off to an 11-0 start, but narrowly survived visiting Texas Tech and NiJaree Canady in a 2-1, nine-inning win on February 14. With Canady not pitching for the Red Raiders in a rematch two days later, however, the Horns romped 11-0 in a five-inning rule-run decision.
OU is 10-0, but have been taken to extras against unranked San Diego State and Long Beach State. Florida is 13-1, with the Gators' loss coming last Sunday to No. 14 Duke by an 8-1 score. UF also defeated Duke 9-0 (run-rule) two days earlier as part of the same weekend tournament.
Ranked No. 4 is UCLA (9-1). The Bruins showed a penchant for falling behind early during the Clearwater Invitational. On Saturday, UCLA fell behind Alabama 3-0 after two (), before rallying for six runs in the sixth to win 6-3. In UCLA's closing game on Sunday, however, the Bruins fell behind Virginia 5-0, came back to take a 6-5 lead, and then lost 7-6 on a walk-off two-run homer.