BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – For the fourth consecutive season, the University of Florida softball program was selected as the preseason SEC favorite for the 2017 season. The SEC office announced the poll results Wednesday after a vote by the league’s 13 head coaches.
The Gators, two-time defending SEC regular-season champions, have been picked as the favorite in the annual preseason poll since the league eliminated the divisional format at the conclusion of the 2013 season.
Florida, who returns all four 2016 NFCA All-Americans, earned nine first-place votes and accumulated 141 points. Auburn tallied a pair of first-place votes and 126 points meanwhile Alabama and LSU each followed with 118 points. Also, both LSU and Texas A&M received a first-place vote.
Last season the Gators opened the season with the best start in program history with a 33-1 record and finished the season with a 56-7 mark. A 20-4 record in conference play earned the program its sixth regular-season title – the six titles are the most by a program in the conference.
The team will take the field for the first time of the 2017 season on Friday, Feb. 10, in Tampa at the USF – Wilson DeMarini Classic against Illinois State. SEC play is scheduled to open up on March 11, at home inside Katie Seashole Pressly Stadium against Missouri with the SEC tournament set for May 10-13 at the Sherri Parker Lee Stadium in Knoxville, Tennessee.
2017 SEC Softball Preseason Coaches’ Poll**
(First-Place Votes in Parentheses)
| Place | School | Points |
| 1. | Florida (9) | 141 |
| 2. | Auburn (2) | 126 |
| 3. | Alabama | 118 |
| LSU (1) | 118 | |
| 5. | Tennessee | 98 |
| 6. | Texas A&M (1) | 83 |
| 7. | Georgia | 78 |
| 8. | Kentucky | 75 |
| 9. | Missouri | 53 |
| 10. | Ole Miss | 45 |
| 11. | South Carolina | 38 |
| 12. | Mississippi State | 28 |
| 13. | Arkansas | 13 |
**Points for the poll were awarded on a 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10-11-12 basis. Coaches were not allowed to vote for their own team.
