The NCAA Softball Tournament committee obviously based the groupings on geography as well as the intention to divide conferences up. No two SEC teams or PAC teams, etc. are facing off in the same Regional. Thus, some of the brackets are tougher than others despite the seedings.
Much like the 2021-22 football season, the 2022 softball season has been an odd one. In both sports, there was a great deal of parity across the nation. Oklahoma had been the dominant softball team all year but then outstanding freshman pitcher Jordy Bahl was injured in the second to last game of the regular season (probably due to overuse; Sound familiar?). The Sooners lost in the second round of the BIG XII Tournament and suddenly look like humans instead of a pack of blood-thirsty half-shark/half-hyena cyborgs with laser beams for eyes.
Many teams - including Alabama - have had a rough end of the season. Suddenly, this tournament is wide open. In several of the Regionals, as many as three different teams have a realistic shot at moving on to the Super-Regionals.
This might be ambitious of me and I’ll probably only get about a dozen of you to do it, but here it goes:
Below are the 16 Regionals. Vote for the teams that you think win each bracket. If you are really feeling it, list your winners #1-16 in list form in Comments section by Friday 11am CT. I’ll do my darnedest between sips of Southern Comfort to keep track.
Winner will be put at the head of the #refund line. Second place gets season tickets to Vanderbilt’s Bowling team.
[NOTE: Polls are stripped out on Google AMP and Apple News. So, get yourselves to another provider!]
Not the easiest for a top seeded team.
There could be some surprises. The ‘Noles are tough, but Mia Davidson is a game changer for MSU. Don’t take USF for granite.
Imagine being the 3-seed and getting Kentucky. Oof!
The Hogs won the SEC. Are they getting a little too cocky? Oregon is an unknown quantity to the home team. Wichita could ... (ahem) ... shock.
The Bruins have won 12 WCWS titles, the most recent in 2019. OM came on strong at the end of the season.
This is one of the easier Regionals, but the Tide is slumping. Bad.
The Huskers were the surprise winners of the Big Ten Tournament. The Cowgirls took the B12T.
If the Sun Devils are off their game, I honestly believe any one of these four teams could take this one.
Pick ‘em.
Another tough one. CU has been playing well lately but the program is only its third year of existence. If it wasn’t for Montana Fouts, the SEC pitcher everyone would be talking about is Aubie’s Maddie Penta. ULL could sneak up on both of them.
Winner of this one plays the winner of Regional 6.
The Dawgs made a run last year. Liberty is sneaky dangerous.
The Huskies lost four of their last six. The Longhorns got out of the gate very poorly but finished relatively strong.
The Gators should be better than this but had some struggles. I haven’t heard anything about GT all year. The Badgers are a threat.
Mizzou is on a roll. Arizona is the most experienced team post-season wise. Don’t know much about the I.
Some may think UCF is a surprise team to get a seed, but they have been doing it all season long. That said, the Wolverines beat Knighties earlier this season 6-0.
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