SEC tournament starts today at noon!!!

Anyone else taking the day off to watch the SEC tournament on the SEC Network?

Championships - Softball

How balanced power turned SEC softball tournament into 'miniature World Series' on May 06, 2015 at 7:27 AM, updated May 06, 2015 at 7:28 AM

In terms of balance, the SEC softball tournament is jam packed. Beginning on Wednesday in Baton Rouge, the bracket features some of the nation's top talent.

Three of the top four teams in the last RPI reside in the SEC led by No. 1 Florida. Five of the top 10 are SEC teams. Half of the top 14: SEC.

Even Kentucky, which finished 5-19 in league play, checked in at No. 23 in the RPI. The traditional powerhouse Pac-12 had two top-10 teams in Oregon (3) and UCLA (7), but the SEC has four of the top six programs.

"It's crazy," senior shortstop Danae Hays said. "It's almost like miniature World Series because that's honestly how good the talent is. I feel like all the teams that are going this weekend could easily make it to the super regional and half of them could make the World Series."

Alabama (41-11, 17-7) is No. 6 in the RPI and earned the No. 3 seed in this week's tournament. It got the bye and will face the winner of 6-seeded Georgia and 11-seeded Ole Miss at 12:30 p.m. Thursday.

The Tide finished the season with a five-game winning streak including a sweep of last-place Arkansas last weekend. It's only series loss came to No. 1 Florida after dropping both halves of a double header March 21.

The Arkansas series was its first sweep since opening league play with three wins over Ole Miss on March 6-8. In all, it won seven of the eight SEC series. The Tide played 26 games against teams in the top 35 in the RPI, getting away with a 16-10 record.

"If you're not ready to play, you're going to get beat," Alabama coach Patrick Murphy said. "It's so balanced up and down. I told them the other day, it's like college baseball in the SEC. The winner could go 20-10 and that's the way it's going in softball too. Too many good coaches, too many good facilities and the talent is starting to spread out."

SEC in the RPI

1. Florida

2. LSU

4. Auburn

6. Alabama

9. Missouri

11. Tennessee

14. Georgia

21. Texas A&M

23. Kentucky

30. South Carolina

32. Mississippi State

69. Ole Miss

84. Arkansas

The other day when I saw Kentucky as the lowest seed, PerfectCircle Post, this became a need to watch.

Its a softball feast from here until the end of July.

Arkansas should be right up there in the mix. The campus is beautiful, Bogel Stadium is an A+ facility. They should be killing it. They consistently get out recruited in their own region. If they just pulled talent from their surrounding states they should be a top 25 program. We'll see who replaces Mike Larabee.

Watching the mini WCWS now. So much for a productive day today.

Just saw the Missouri pitcher hit 70 MPH on the radar gun. Is she a legit 70 or are the guns "juiced"? It seems like pitchers always throw 2-3 MPH faster in the WCWS than they have thrown all season.

Silkwood, the pitcher for Mississippi State is listed at 5'4", so there ARE pitchers in the SEC shorter than 5'10"!

It is amazing how a pitcher like Silkwood with poor mechanics and pitching illegally on every stinkin pitch can have success in the SEC.

As to Finucane hitting 70mph, her working speed is 66-68 so it is possible. Keep in mind that radar provides the speed of the fastest object and does not know the difference between a pitch, the bat, or the ball off the bat. I had my Stalker set up last weekend and folks got excited when they saw a 71mph reading, but the gun had picked up the hitter swinging for the fence.

Roth grand slam bottom of the 5th

^^^No IP on #8?

SoAZDad said:

^^^No IP on #8?

Click to expand...

No, she obviously gets a free pass.... on every pitch...