Defending National Champion Florida will start the 2015 campaign at No. 1 as the Gators (55-12) received 20 first-place votes and totaled 699 points to claim the top spot in the USA Today/NFCA Division I Preseason Top 25.

Coming off its first WCWS title, Florida, under the direction of Tim Walton, opens the season at No. 1 for the second time (2009) in program history. In 2014, the Gators spent five straight weeks in the top spot (Feb. 18-Mar. 18) before returning there at the end of the season.

Oregon (56-9-1), which reached the WCWS semifinals, was a mere five points (694) behind Florida after receiving eight first-place votes. National runner-up Alabama (53-13) chimed in at No. 3 with 648 points, while Oklahoma (51-13) received a first-place vote and 613 points and Florida State rounded out the top-5 with 571 points.

Coming in at No. 6 was Kentucky (50-19) with 565 points and at No. 7 with 536 points, UCLA. Rounding out the top-10 were Michigan (47-15), Louisiana (49-10-1) and national semifinalist Baylor (49-16).

The Southeastern Conference led the way with nine total selections, while the Pacific-12 Conference added five and the Big 10 Conference three teams in the preseason rankings.

The Atlantic Coast Conference, Big 12 Conference and Sun Belt Conference boasted a pair of programs, respectively, while the Big East Conference and Conference USA each had one squad represented.

The USA Today/NFCA Division I Top 25 Poll is voted on by 32 NCAA Division I head coaches, one representing each conference. Final 2014 records are shown, first-place votes are in parentheses.

USA Today/NFCA Division I Softball Poll – Preseason — Jan. 20, 2015

Rank	Team	2014 Record	Totals	Final 2014 Rank
1	Florida (20)	55-12	699	1
2	Oregon (8)	56-9-1	694	3
3	Alabama	53-13	648	2
4	Oklahoma (1)	51-13	613	5
5	Florida State	55-9	571	7
6	Kentucky	50-19	565	6
7	UCLA	52-8	536	9
8	Michigan	47-15	493	10
9	Louisiana	49-10-1	481	8
10	Baylor	49-16	475	4
11	Washington	37-15	411	11
12	Georgia	49-15	402	13
13	Tennessee	46-12	401	12
14	Arizona	44-16	356	14
15	Minnesota	44-12	298	15
16	Arizona State	46-12-1	267	17
17	Missouri	43-18	240	19
18	Nebraska	44-18	213	16
19	LSU	38-24	205	21
20	Auburn	42-19-1	204	20
21	Tulsa	53-9	175	18
22	Notre Dame	41-13	133	22
23	South Alabama	42-14	100	23
24	Texas A&M	37-22	71	25
25	DePaul	44-11	40	24

Others Receiving Votes: James Madison (36), USC Upstate (21), Wisconsin (16), UCF (16), Texas (16), North Carolina State (14), Northwestern (3), Stanford (3), South Carolina (3), Hofstra (2), Louisville (2), Cal State Fullerton (2).