3/3/2011-3/6/2011: Top teams take the weekend off

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sluggers

Super Moderator
Staff member
May 26, 2008
7,132
113
Dallas, Texas
The top teams in the country pretty much took the weekend off.

Arizona went 5-0, Georgia went 3-0, Florida went 4-0, Washington 3-0, and Michigan 5-0. They all played weak competition, so many of the games never got past the 5th inning.

The only interesting game should have been Alabama vs. Louisiana-Lafayette--and it was. Alabama lost 1-0. Click for story about game.

UCLA proved again that it isn't the team of destiny this year, losing to Baylor 5-1. Click for Story about game.
 
Oct 13, 2010
666
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Georgia
Sluggers, would it be possible for you to explain the process of qualifying for the WCWS, or at least provide a link to a site that does? I enjoy watching it, but I have not heard a good explination of how teams qualify for sectionals, regionals, or whatever else it takes to get there. I assume it has something to do with national rankings, but not sure how it works. Thanks!
 

sluggers

Super Moderator
Staff member
May 26, 2008
7,132
113
Dallas, Texas
Sure...Qualification for the WCWS is like women's basketball. Just for the purists, the WCWS is akin to the "Final Four". Technically, the WCWS refers to the 8 team tournament in Oklahoma City.

But, assuming you aren't as anally retentive as I can be:

There are 64 teams in the D1 post-season tournament. Each D1 conference get an automatic bid to the post-season tournament. Some conferences have a post-season tournament to pick who goes to the NCAA, some conferences select the team who wins the regular season conference championship.

There are 31 D1 conferences, so the NCAA softball selection committee picks another 33 teams. It is usually pretty simple to pick 10 or so teams to go the NCAA based upon the rankings. It is more difficult to pick the last 23 teams. As you can imagine, the process can get highly political, and approaches absurdity. (College coaches get a bonus for taking a team to the post-season tournament. So, you can imagine what goes on for the 63rd and 64th seeds into the tournament.)

The 64 teams are divided into 16 double-elimination regionals. The grouping of the regionals in large part is based on geography.

The winners of the 16 regionals are paired and play in 8 best-of-three super regionals. The 8 winners then go to the WCWS, where they used a double-elimination tournament to pick two teams, which is then followed by a best-of-three winner take all tournament.

Due to the fatigue of over-worked pitchers in 100+ degree weather in Oklahoma, the WCWS degenerates into something that resembles a homerun derby more than a fastpitch softball tournament.
 
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Oct 13, 2010
666
0
Georgia
Thanks for that explination. It almost clears up the mystery of how they all get there. One more question though. If each conference gets an automatic bid, are they limited in who they can give it to? For instance, if the SEC ends up with 4 teams in the top 10 they presumably would be automaticaly picked by the selection commitee, so can they pick a lower team to be the automatic bid? If there is no rule against it I could see each conference trying to get as many teams into the post season as possible. (Highly political and approching absurdity part?) Just curious.
 

sluggers

Super Moderator
Staff member
May 26, 2008
7,132
113
Dallas, Texas
The automatic bid is determined by whatever system the conference decides. Conferences either select to have a post-season qualifying tournament with the winner going to the tournament, or select to have the 1st place finisher of the season conference games go to the tournament. I believe the conference can use any method it wishes to select the team that gets the automatic bid.

If a team gets one of the automatic bids, they are usually seeded higher than the other teams from the conference, so there is that advantage. So, the teams do want to get the automatic bid.

The SEC is probably the most ridiculous about getting teams into the post-season tourney...last year, they had Alabama, Georgia, Florida, LSU, Kentucky, Auburn and Tennessee. The NCAA is desperate for the SEC to win a championship, and it shows...

Kentucky last year had a record of 32-27, an SEC record of 13-15, *AND* they lost in the first round of the SEC tournament. So, exactly what did they do? Sure, people are going to say "strength of schedule", but geez...but the idea is that you win a few of those tough games.

The dirty little secret of softball is that the NCAA softball is very much a "good old boys/girls" club. There is no "Sports Center" broadcast debating why Kentucky got in instead of some other school...so they do what they want.
 
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