Last Four In: UCF, Michigan State, Notre Dame, South Florida
First Four Out: Arkansas, Mississippi State, Illinois, Tulsa
Conference play got under way in the SEC this week and top ranked Florida was dominant in the circle against Missouri as the Gators limited the Tigers to just four hits in the first two games of the series this weekend. Delanie Gourley and Kelly Barnhill were locked in during both games and Missouri was no match for them offensively. Florida State took command of the ACC by going into Blacksburg and sweeping Virginia Tech without too much difficulty. This was an important litmus test for the Seminoles as these were the first true road games of the season and they passed the test with flying colors. Washington won two critical showdown games with Minnesota in a battle of top ten teams that could very well see each other in a Super Regional. The Huskies got excellent pitching from Taran Alvelo against the Golden Gophers and the offense got rolling all weekend long as head coach Heather Tarr won her 500th game on Friday night. Oregon stayed red hot as well, crushing their competition at the Oregon Invitational. The Ducks are now 24-0 as the heart of the Pac-12 looms ahead for them. Don’t sleep on Arizona as they are now 24-1 heading into a big game with defending champion Oklahoma on Tuesday out in Long Beach, California. Pitching has been a game changer for the Wildcats as they have a team earned run average of 0.79 led by Danielle O’Toole in the circle. The other key has been commanding the strike zone. Wildcat pitchers have gone after hitters and made them earn everything and that has made Arizona a definite top eight national seed type of team at this point in the season.
ACC: Florida State, Louisville, North Carolina, Notre Dame, Pittsburgh, Virginia Tech
American: South Florida, UCF
Big East: DePaul
Big 12: Baylor, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Texas
Big Ten: Michigan, Minnesota, Michigan State, Ohio State, Wisconsin
Pac-12: Arizona, Arizona State, California, Oregon, Oregon State, UCLA, Utah, Washington
SEC: Alabama, Auburn, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, LSU, Mississippi, Missouri, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas A&M
A-10: Fordham
America East: Stony Brook
A-Sun: USC Upstate
Big Sky: Weber State
Big South: Longwood
Big West: Cal State Fullerton, Long Beach State
CAA: James Madison
C-USA: Florida Atlantic
Horizon: Wright State
Ivy: Harvard
MAAC: Marist
MAC: Kent State
MEAC: Delaware State
MVC: Wichita State
MWC: Fresno State
NEC: LIU Brooklyn
OVC: Jacksonville State
Patriot: Lehigh
Southern: Samford
Southland: McNeese State
Summit: North Dakota State
Sun Belt: Louisiana, South Alabama
SWAC: Texas Southern
WAC: New Mexico State
WCC: BYU
