NCAA Softball Selection -- Does the committee love the B1G?

[mikegarrison]

Huskies in a tough spot now. They have to win later today, and then if they do, they have to beat Michigan twice tomorrow.

[bbg95]

Tennessee is out. Liberty gets a rematch with James Madison. Odicci Alexander struck out 19 Flames in their first meeting.

[trojansc]

We will have, at the very least, two unseeded teams in the Super Regionals. The winner of Liberty/James Madison, and Virginia Tech. There could be many more, as Georgia, Notre Dame, and Michigan only need 1 win to advance tomorrow.

#13 Duke-WKU on to a 12th. Wild.

[bbg95]

I was curious who the last non-power 5 school to win the WCWS was. Looks like it was Fresno State in 1998. 

[trojansc]

Western Kentucky's catcher likely just cost them their season.

She had no chance to get the runner on a slap hit at first, but she elects to throw it anyways, it gets all the way to the wall, and Duke takes a 2-0 lead in the Top 12th.

[mikegarrison]

May 22, 2021 19:41:41 GMT -5 trojansc said:

She had no chance to get the runner on a slap hit at first, but she elects to throw it anyways, it gets all the way to the wall, and Duke takes a 2-0 lead in the Top 12th.

Most coaches would probably prefer an aggressive-throwing catcher over one who is afraid to throw the ball around.

[n00b]

May 22, 2021 19:31:19 GMT -5 trojansc said:

We will have, at the very least, two unseeded teams in the Super Regionals. The winner of Liberty/James Madison, and Virginia Tech. There could be many more, as Georgia, Notre Dame, and Michigan only need 1 win to advance tomorrow.

#13 Duke-WKU on to a 12th. Wild.

I was curious how frequently unseeded teams advance.

There has been exactly one in the last three seasons COMBINED. If we go get all 5 of those, it would be the most since 2009.

[trojansc]

May 22, 2021 20:56:48 GMT -5 n00b said:

May 22, 2021 19:31:19 GMT -5 trojansc said:

We will have, at the very least, two unseeded teams in the Super Regionals. The winner of Liberty/James Madison, and Virginia Tech. There could be many more, as Georgia, Notre Dame, and Michigan only need 1 win to advance tomorrow.

#13 Duke-WKU on to a 12th. Wild.

I was curious how frequently unseeded teams advance.

There has been exactly one in the last three seasons COMBINED. If we go get all 5 of those, it would be the most since 2009.

Yep. I'm excited. It also gives a chance for those unseeded teams to make it to the WCWS. The last time that an unseeded team made it to the WCWS was almost 10 years ago -- 2012, but two of them did that year.

[trojansc]

Washington vs. Portland State/Seattle will definitely start after midnight ET. #Pac12AfterDark. I will be shocked if that is a close game, but there are a lot of questions re: Washington starting their ace. There is a huge gap between #1 and next for Washington, whereas Michigan has two legitimate aces. Given their opponents strengths and having to win twice tomorrow, I would be shocked to see Plain on the mound for UW.

Man, Oregon's path is just brutal with the rain delay they had in Austin today. They practically have to win FOUR matches in just barely over a 24 hour period. But, nonetheless, one down, they lead the match against Texas State right now, and will have to down Texas twice tomorrow.

[mikegarrison]

May 22, 2021 22:24:31 GMT -5 trojansc said:

Washington vs. Seattle will definitely start after midnight ET.

I don't know why, but I can't find this game on ESPN. I have seen clips from it, so I know they are covering it.

Washington currently up 6-0. Plain is not pitching.

[mikegarrison]

OK, so this is yet another fail by ESPN. The game is being played on ESPNU, but they are showing on their app that this is something else.

[trojansc]

May 23, 2021 0:21:42 GMT -5 mikegarrison said:

May 22, 2021 22:24:31 GMT -5 trojansc said:

Washington vs. Seattle will definitely start after midnight ET.

I don't know why, but I can't find this game on ESPN. I have seen clips from it, so I know they are covering it.

Washington currently up 6-0. Plain is not pitching.

They never added the title or something. It's being broadcast on ESPNU. I see it listed as "The Season: Ole Miss Softball" as the event broadcast on ESPNU.

Either way, yeah, Plain isn't pitching, good news for UW. They may need her x2 tomorrow. I wonder which P Michigan will show first.

[trojansc]

Three AAC teams into the Regional Finals: South Florida, UCF, and Wichita State. They all put good fights into their 1st matches against the Top seeds they are playing. But they will need to do better(x2) to advance to the Super Regionals. A tall task for all three. I think UCF has the best chance by far.

The Sun Belt started out red hot -- but only Louisiana-Lafayette remains and they got whooped by LSU first time around this regional. The PAC-12 has three teams who need to win twice. A tall task for Stanford, but very possible that Oregon beats Texas twice, and Washington very well can take down Michigan twice.

[bbg95]

May 22, 2021 19:15:36 GMT -5 bbg95 said:

May 22, 2021 19:06:59 GMT -5 trojansc said:

BYU was down to its last out about to get run-ruled - and your favorite player Zavodnik doubles, followed by a 3-run homerun and BYU keeps its hope alive. Slim hope, but still alive.

I turned it on in time to see the replay of the homer. Huntyr Ava has the best reactions after she hits a bomb or even just a big hit.

I went back and watched the 10 good minutes of the game for BYU on the on-demand video. Zavodnik's double was pretty impressive in that the pitch she hit was way up the zone, and she just went up and got it. And Ava absolutely crushed the ball on her three-run shot. It's kind of funny that they rallied to avoid getting mercy ruled at the end of the half-inning, but they got mercy ruled anyway in the bottom half. Oh well. They still had a pretty nice tournament overall and were a fun team to watch. It will be interesting to see how much Zavodnik improves over the next three years when she's already so good.

I guess I need another team to root for in the rest of the tournament, and it might as well be Virginia Tech. They have been impressive.

[trojansc]

May 23, 2021 0:42:38 GMT -5 bbg95 said:

I went back and watched the 10 good minutes of the game for BYU on the on-demand video. Zavodnik's double was pretty impressive in that the pitch she hit was way up the zone, and she just went up and got it. And Ava absolutely crushed the ball on her three-run shot. It's kind of funny that they rallied to avoid getting mercy ruled at the end of the half-inning, but they got mercy ruled anyway in the bottom half. Oh well. They still had a pretty nice tournament overall and were a fun team to watch. It will be interesting to see how much Zavodnik improves over the next three years when she's already so good.

I guess I need another team to root for in the rest of the tournament, and it might as well be Virginia Tech. They have been impressive.

Good news for you, I don't remember many of BYU's more talented players ever transferring out in recent years. They seem to do a great job of roster retention.

I'm with you on Virginia Tech. They'll have to play the defending national Champs and 2x NPOY in Westwood unless Minnesota pulls off a miracle, but they have offense AND a very good pitcher. I'm not going to count them out at all. Also of note, if Minnesota somehow knocks UCLA out twice, the super regional would be hosted by Virginia Tech.

The team I'm really going to root for though is James Madison. Love their pitcher and they will get one of the more winnable super regionals with Iowa State or Missouri.

I also like the Georgia story -- 1-9 in its last 10 matches to end the season but gets a gift from the committee and takes advantage. If they win tomorrow, I'm definitely pulling for them in the Supers.