The University of Oklahoma earned the No. 1 seed in the NCAA Division I Softball Championship as the 64-team field was announced today by the NCAA Division I Softball Committee.
Thirty-two conferences were awarded an automatic qualification, while the remaining 32 slots were filled with at-large selections to complete the bracket. The top 16 teams were seeded nationally and will play at campus sites beginning today.
The Southeastern Conference led all leagues with 13 teams selected to the championship tournament. Among those chosen from the SEC were the LSU Lady Tigers.
LSU, the No. 10 seed in the tournament, will host a regional in Baton Rouge beginning tomorrow at 2 p.m. The Lady Tigers will compete against Texas Tech, Louisiana Tech and Monmouth to see who will reach the super regional next Friday.
Game one in the LSU regional will pit Texas Tech (39-14) and Louisiana Tech (44-14) at 2 p.m. The Lady Tigers (40-16) will go up against Monmouth (36-16) at 4:30 p.m.
LSU finished the regular season in a three-way tie for second place in the SEC. The Tigers finished with a 14-10 record in the league and garnered seven All-SEC honors. The Tigers had 14 wins over Top 25 RPI teams and 21 overall wins in the top 50.
Texas Tech goes in as the No. 2 seed. The Red Raiders finished 39-14 on the year and finished fourth in the Big 12 with an 8-10 record. Louisiana Tech finished 44-14 on the year and is coming off a C-USA Tournament Championship this weekend.
The Lady Tiger’s first opponent, Monmouth, is the No. 4 seed in the regional, finishing 36-16 in the regular season. They are coming off the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference tournament title this weekend.
“We’re excited; always appreciate the favor of the committee when playing at home at Tiger Park,” coach Beth Torina said. “I think our team had a great year and we’re very deserving of the spot they’re in.
“I thought our résumé was good,” Torina continued. “We have been there all year. But obviously we didn’t play well lately, so I think that was a big factor. When we saw the initial four, it was pretty easy to see it (top eight national seed) wasn’t going to be in the cards for us.”
It’s the 14th consecutive NCAA tournament berth and fifth straight regional host for LSU.
The University of Louisiana-Lafayette Lady Cajuns are also one of the 64 teams named to the tournament after posting an overall record of 50-4. ULL swept the regular season and Sunbelt Conference tournament titles and are considered the No. 7 team in the country in the latest NCAA polls.
However, the Lady Cajuns will not host a regional, as they were not designated as one of the top 16 teams in the country after finishing No. 17 in the RPI. Instead, ULL will have to travel to Oxford, Mississippi and try to work their way out of the Ole Miss regional.
Ole Miss (37-17), the No. 11 seed in the tournament, will face off against Chattanooga (37-15) at 6 p.m. That game will follow the match-up between ULL and Southeast Missouri (45-16).
According to ULL head coach Gerry Glasco, a combination of unforeseen scheduling woes more than likely brought down the Lady Cajun’s stock in the RPI.
“Things just didn’t go right with our schedule and maybe I can learn from that,” Glasco said. “Maybe instead of 10 (out-of-conference games), I try to get 15 games.”
“It’s like buying stock in a business,” stated Glasco. “I bought stock in the wrong schools this year. But honestly, I would do it all again. Baylor and Cal both have tremendous programs and it just didn’t work out this year.”
Louisiana is making its 21st consecutive appearance in the NCAA Tournament, and the 29th overall in the past 30 seasons.
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TRACEY JAGNEAUX Sports Editor