Last Four in: Missouri, Mississippi, Illinois, USC Upstate
First Four Out: Louisville, Cal State Fullerton, Mercer, Florida Gulf Coast
UCLA took control of the Pac-12 for now after sweeping top-ranked Washington in three very well played games. Rachel Garcia and Selina Ta’amilo were outstanding in the circle all weekend as they limited the Huskies to two runs offensively over the course of three games. Oregon picked up a huge win over Oklahoma last Thursday afternoon in Eugene. Megan Kleist was brilliant, firing a one-hit shutout. Offensively, the Ducks were aggressive and executed very well against Paige Parker. Its that type of balance that will make this weekend’s trip to Seattle interesting as they will play a Washington that is also capable of winning tight pitching duels and exploding offensively. Now, the forecast in Seattle is calling for some showers on Saturday and Sunday so it will be interesting to see if these teams can play all three games as scheduled.
Florida is getting themselves on a roll offensively as they went down to Starkville and swept a tough Mississippi State team. The Gators are one of those teams that, like Oklahoma, just simply need to be clicking on all cylinders once the NCAA Tournament as their seed is not quite as critical for them. Tennessee and LSU also picked up big series wins over Alabama and Texas A&M, respectively. These two teams have plenty of talent and can get to Oklahoma City if they can continue to get timely hitting in run-scoring situations. That is the thing about this season in general for top teams; if you execute with runners in scoring position at a high level, then you will be just fine. If you don’t execute you will be in harm’s way just like the Huskies were down in Los Angeles against the Bruins who made them pay dearly.
On the mid-major front, Texas State is in firm command of the Sun Belt despite losing two of three to Louisiana and are one of those potentially dangerous number two seeds in any upcoming regional bracket. Hofstra is on fire in the Colonial Athletic Association this season as they will fight it out with James Madison this weekend in Harrisonburg, Virginia. Finally, Fresno State has clawed their way back to the top of the Mountain West Conference surpassing San Jose State and that race has the feel of one that will go down to the last weekend of the regular season.
ACC: Florida State, Notre Dame
American: Tulsa, South Florida, Wichita State
Big East: Creighton
Big 12: Baylor, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Texas
Big Ten: Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio State, Nebraska, Northwestern
Pac-12: Arizona, Arizona State, California, Oregon, Oregon State, UCLA, Washington
SEC: Alabama, Arkansas, Auburn, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, LSU, Mississippi, Mississippi State, Missouri, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas A&M
A-10: Massachusetts
America East: Umass-Lowell
A-Sun: Kennesaw State, USC Upstate
Big Sky: Weber State
Big South: Liberty
Big West: Long Beach State
CAA: James Madison, Hofstra
C-USA: Louisiana Tech
Horizon: Illinois Chicago
Ivy: Harvard
MAAC: Monmouth
MAC: Ohio
MEAC: Florida A&M
MVC: Drake
MWC: Fresno State
NEC: St. Francis
OVC: Eastern Kentucky
Patriot: Boston U
Southern: UNC Greensboro
Southland: McNeese State
Summit: Western Illinois
Sun Belt: Louisiana, Texas State
SWAC: Texas Southern
WAC: New Mexico State
WCC: BYU
