Last Four In: Kentucky, South Florida, Nebraska, Tulsa
First Eight Out: Louisville, Oregon State, San Diego State, Long Beach State, Georgia State, UAB, SIUE, Marshall
An absolutely wild final weekend of the women’s college softball regular season for some conferences and conference tournament for others brought plenty of drama. Lauren Haeger suffered her first loss of the season in the SEC Semifinals as Tennessee pulled the dramatic 2-1 upset victory. Auburn and Tennessee battled each other tooth and nail in the SEC Championship game as the Tigers cashed on a key defensive lapse by the Volunteers to force extra innings. Freshman Carlee Wallace had a walk-off single in the bottom of the eighth inning that gave Auburn the victory by a score of 6-5. It was also the first conference tournament championship in program history under the direction of head coach Clint Myers. The Pac-12 conference championship went down to the final day as Oregon and UCLA took the title race down to the wire. But, thanks to a frenetic Arizona State rally in the bottom of the 7th to beat UCLA 11-10, the Oregon Ducks took the field in Tucson against Arizona on Saturday night with the Pac-12 championship in hand and they finished the season in style with a 15-7 win over the Wildcats.
The high flying James Madison Dukes saw their epic winning streak come to an end as Hofstra knocked off the Dukes to win Colonial Athletic Association tournament and secured the automatic berth. Kentucky is going to be fascinating to watch to see where they end up being placed in the bracket. A 12th place finish in the SEC would normally leave a team on the outside looking in. But the Wildcats do have several key wins over teams like Florida State, Alabama, LSU and Arizona and that normally should be enough to get you in the NCAA Tournament. However, they lost their last seven in a row and, counting the SEC Tournament, went 5-20 in SEC play. Even with an RPI in the Top 25, you would think the selection committee would do the right thing and punish the Wildcats for losing their last seven and being so horrendous in conference play. But, the reality is they are going to be in the NCAA Tournament and this will raise a few eyebrows across the country as they will be seeded on the 2 or 3 line in a regional. The story of conference tournament weekend is Indiana State who went into the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament as the number eight seed and the Sycamores were able to put it all together offensively and played their way into the NCAA Tournament. Overall, this NCAA Tournament field should be fairly balanced as the explosion of offensive softball will give teams a chance to beat anyone on a given day to cause some havoc in the upcoming regionals.
See the Projected Softball NCAA Tournament Bracket
ACC: Florida State*, North Carolina, North Carolina State, Notre Dame, Pittsburgh, Virginia Tech
American: South Florida, Tulsa, UCF*
Big East: St. John’s*
Big 12: Baylor, Kansas, Oklahoma*, Texas
Big Ten: Michigan*, Minnesota, Northwestern, Nebraska
Pac-12: Arizona, Arizona State, California, Oregon*, UCLA, Utah, Washington
SEC: Alabama, Auburn*, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, LSU, Mississippi State, Missouri, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas A&M
A-10: Fordham*
America East: Binghamton*
A-Sun: USC Upstate*
Big Sky: Weber State*
Big South: Longwood*
Big West: Cal State Northridge*
CAA: James Madison, Hofstra*
C-USA: Western Kentucky*, Florida Atlantic
Horizon: Oakland*
Ivy: Dartmouth*
MAAC: Fairfield*
MAC: Ball State*
MEAC: Florida A&M*
MVC: Indiana State*
MWC: Fresno State*
NEC: Central Connecticut State*
OVC: Tennessee Tech*
Patriot: Lehigh*
Southern: Chattanooga*
Southland: Central Arkansas*
Summit: North Dakota State*
Sun Belt: Louisiana, South Alabama*
SWAC: Texas Southern*
WAC: New Mexico State*
WCC: BYU*
See the Projected Softball NCAA Tournament Bracket
