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Alabama Softball Gets No. 8 National Seed
Alabama takes on Alabama State in first day of Tuscaloosa Regional.
247sports.com
The biggest question following the announcement of the 64-team bracket by the College Softball Selection Committee had to be, “What were they looking at?”
Alabama wasn’t snubbed. Indeed, the Crimson Tide of Coach Patrick Murphy was rewarded with a coveted top eight seed, which means hosting an NCAA Regional Tournament beginning Friday at Rhoads Stadium in Tuscaloosa. And if Bama wins that four-team, double elimination tournament Alabama would also host a Super Regional the following weekend.
The question was Alabama getting seeded behind No. 5 Florida, No. 6 Arizona, and No. 7 Minnesota. And why was that a question?
Alabama’s schedule this year included a Feb. 15 trip to Arizona, where Alabama defeated the Wildcats, 6-1. The next week Alabama hosted Minnesota for two games, Bama winning by 1-0 and 7-2. The Tide played four games against Florida this year with the Tide getting three wins in Gainesville ((3-1, 6-1, 3-0) before losing a game to the Gators in the SEC Tournament in College Station Saturday night by 2-1.
Alabama will be hosting Alabama State (24-23) at 5:30 p.m. CDT Friday, following Arizona State (33-18) vs. Lipscomb (41-13-1). The Alabama-Alabama State game will be televised on ESPNU.
So how did the selection committee justify ranking Alabama so low? It was the primary question from the ESPN crew discussing this year’s bracket. The answer they got was that Alabama’s non-conference strength of schedule ranked 106th. Bama was 32-0 in non-conference games. The committee (presumably with great smugness, like almost everything done wrong by anything NCAA) pointed out that Minnesota had the No. 1 non-conference strength of schedule. Never mind that Alabama defeated the Gophers in head-to-head meetings – twice.
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Alabama has the best record of any of the top 16 seeds at 52-7. The Crimson Tide was regular season champion of the SEC, which has the No. 1 RPI in the nation. Bama was 9-1 vs. top 10 RPI teams. Alabama’s 12 wins against top 25 teams was fourth most in the nation.
As for that non-conference strength of schedule argument, how about the SEC strength of schedule. Not only did it have the highest RPI of any conference, a glance at the 64-team bracket will reveal that all 13 SEC teams were selected for the national championship tournament, six of them No. 1 seeds. It is the third consecutive season all 13 SEC softball teams were selected for the national tournament.
Should Alabama win the Tuscaloosa Regional, it will host the winner of the Austin Regional hosted by No. 9 seed Texas (41-14). Also in that regional are Sam Houston State (34-21), Houston (37-17), and Texas A&M (28-25).
In addition to No. 5 Florida and No. 8 Alabama, SEC teams earning top seeds were No. 10 LSU, No. 11 Ole Miss, No. 12 Tennessee, and No. 14 Kentucky.
Also from the conference making the tournament in addition to Texas A&M were Missouri in the UCLA Regional, Mississippi State in the Washington Regional, South Carolina in the Florida State Regional, Auburn in the Arizona Regional, Georgia in the Minnesota Regional, and Arkansas in the Ole Miss Regional. (Vanderbilt does not field a softball team.)
This is Alabama’s 20th consecutive NCAA Tournament selection. Bama has advanced to the Super Regional in each of the previous 13 seasons since it was established in 2005.
The Tide has made 11 previous appearances in the Women’s College World Series, winning the national championship in 2012 – the first national softball title for an SEC team.
Regionals will be held Thursday-Sunday, followed by the Super Regionals May 23-26. The NCAA Women’s College World Series will take place May 30-June 5 in Oklahoma City.
5COMMENTS
The 16 No. 1 seeds are:
1. Oklahoma, 2. UCLA, 3. Washington, 4. Florida State, 5. Florida, 6. Arizona, 7. Minnesota, 8. Alabama, 9. Texas, 10. LSU, 11. Ole Miss, 12. Tennessee, 13. Oklahoma State, 14. Kentucky, 15. Michigan, 16. Northwestern
