2022 NCAA Softball Tournament | Page 3 | The Boneyard

2022 NCAA Softball Tournament

nwhoopfan said:
Because ESPN pushes the SEC so hard? Oklahoma obviously has been crushing it lately, but if you look at the entire history the Pac has absolutely owned softball. ESPN decided out of pretty much nowhere based on nothing that the SEC is THE power in softball. So us West Coast fans have been enjoying watching the SEC's disastrous performance the last 2 years.

Probably also, pretty much everybody outside of SEC country has a very healthy dislike for the SEC in general, and in particular football, that spills over into most sports. Especially if ESPN pushes it hard (I know, they have a contract w/ the SEC, so of course they are going to hype the conference, but it doesn't make it any less annoying
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Well I dunno, it seems mostly a Pac-12 hate SEC thing with softball. I dunno how the ACC feels about the SEC tho. I know the SEC has crazy involved fans in any sport, the SEC can really be all shades of the spectrum.

SEC is mostly parity. I don't think the top of the heap are as elite as Oklahoma. They're just 11 or 12 teams that beat up on each other, and all can win a regional but they surely all can lose too. If 11th finishing team Mississippi State beats Florida St, I think media might have a point about the parity of the conference, where records can be deceiving.

I think Alabama is the only loss this weekend that truly is unfathomable. Arizona and Oregon St. winning aren't incomprehensible. Arizona is hot and cold, but they proved they're still a tough out. Oregon St beat Tennessee, but Vols scored like 8 runs in the last 40 innings to a team that isn't Campbell so they were looking flat down the stretch. Stanford is definitely better than the lack of buzz they've gotten this year tho. Kentucky played Virginia Tech pretty tough. Surely UCLA was expected to take care of Ole Miss. And Duke was the 1 seed over Georgia. LSU was somewhat surprising tho but they were heading downwards in the last few games of the year.

Pac 12 did a good job this weekend, no doubt. They were underappreciated this year for sure. I think Pac 12 will get 3 teams in the CWS. Maybe SEC can get an equal amount as to silence the haters!
 
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Just wait until Oklahoma and Texas join the SEC. It's going to make the conference a little bit stronger for softball.
 
After the disaster that was the baseball season after the 2021 CWS title, I will take a little softball glory this spring/summer. Good job ladies. Hopefully the crowds come out in Starkville to cheer them on.
 
nwhoopfan said:
Because ESPN pushes the SEC so hard? Oklahoma obviously has been crushing it lately, but if you look at the entire history the Pac has absolutely owned softball. ESPN decided out of pretty much nowhere based on nothing that the SEC is THE power in softball. So us West Coast fans have been enjoying watching the SEC's disastrous performance the last 2 years.

Probably also, pretty much everybody outside of SEC country has a very healthy dislike for the SEC in general, and in particular football, that spills over into most sports. Especially if ESPN pushes it hard (I know, they have a contract w/ the SEC, so of course they are going to hype the conference, but it doesn't make it any less annoying).
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I am someone who understands the SEC dislike from other conferences. I will say that other than football, I don't think the SEC is the best league in any other sport but that makes ESPN the most money so it will carry over into other coverage.
 
Texas A&M has let Coach Jo Evans go. A HOFer...hmm.
 
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Centerstream said:
Just wait until Oklahoma and Texas join the SEC. It's going to make the conference a little bit stronger for softball.
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Yeah, the number of Championships by SEC schools is likely to increase rapidly with Oklahoma in the fold. The entire SEC has 3 currently, Oklahoma has 5 (and 3 of the last 5, excluding the cancelled season and 4 of the last 8). Texas has never actually won one.

edit--well I guess it depends on how you count such things; Texas A&M has 2 Titles from the 80s LONG before they were a part of the SEC. So 2 more for a member school, but you can't really count those for the conference. Just like the SEC doesn't get to claim all of Oklahoma's previous Titles once they join up.
 
MSSportsGuy said:
I am someone who understands the SEC dislike from other conferences. I will say that other than football, I don't think the SEC is the best league in any other sport but that makes ESPN the most money so it will carry over into other coverage.
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The SEC has made great strides in softball and women's basketball over the years with a lot of teams being good. I think it is hard to assess "best conferences" but I do think of them as quality in both sports. I also think of the PAC in softball, of course, with the ACC coming on and the Big 12 represented by select teams.

I think of the B1G (and historically the PAC) for women's volleyball, the ACC (current and past members) for things like lacrosse, and field hockey. Not up on women's soccer or most men's sports. Some of the niche sports I also think of the PAC, although that has changed. I know the SEC is strong in gymnastics, as well.

As time passes, things change. If you throw every sport in the mix, and had some way to measure conferences, I think it would be SEC, PAC (due to the niche stuff), ACC, B1G and Big 12. For major sports only, it would be different.
 
The Softball transfer portal is open for business. Alabama has already had 6 players enter it.
Does anyone know if there is a specific twitter person that posts Softball entries, sort of like a Raoul for softball?
If there is, maybe this thread should be moved to the UConn Baseball and Olympic Sports forum???
 
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Centerstream said:
The Softball transfer portal is open for business. Alabama has already had 6 players enter it.
Does anyone know if there is a specific twitter person that posts Softball entries, sort of like a Raoul for softball?
If there is, maybe this thread should be moved to the UConn Baseball and Olympic Sports forum???
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I wasn't aware of there being a mass exodus via the portal for softball last season, but maybe this year it will hit that sport as well. Volleyball doesn't seem like it's seen this yet either so far.
 
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nwhoopfan said:
I wasn't aware of there being a mass exodus via the portal for softball last season, but maybe this year it will hit that sport as well. Volleyball doesn't seem like it's seen this yet either so far.
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Does volleyball need the portal? Volleyball players have been able to transfer without sitting out a year for many years now.
 
donalddoowop said:
Does volleyball need the portal? Volleyball players have been able to transfer without sitting out a year for many years now.
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Excellent point. That was probably the case with softball as well. Maybe that's why the other sports haven't gone crazy with movement of players, because they weren't restricted previously.
 
Okay, here's a question I've got that's related. Anyone notice that Super Seniors as they call them in softball (with the extra covid year) seem to mostly stay with their same team rather than transferring as a grad student? At least with Washington. It's almost like you HAVE to change teams if you're a grad student in wbb.
 
Isn't this, more or less, the Oklahoma invitational? Something like 52-2 regular season.

That is the kind of team you see in a sport where you will find people saying "I don't normally watch this sport but...I want to watch THEM" And you tune in and see them beat a team by 20. That is just sick!
 
Travelman32 said:
Isn't this, more or less, the Oklahoma invitational? Something like 52-2 regular season.

That is the kind of team you see in a sport where you will find people saying "I don't normally watch this sport but...I want to watch THEM" And you tune in and see them beat a team by 20. That is just sick!
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Sort of. In the last conference series of the season, Oklahoma swept Oklahoma State. A week later, they met in the Big 12 Championship with the Cowgirls getting the upset win. So, you never know.
And last season, the Sooners entered the NCAA tournament with only 2 losses but did lose 2 games in the CWS, on their way to winning the Championship.
 
I just watched the first 2 games, neither went the way I wanted. While I don't dislike Arkansas, I will typically root for Texas in many cases as I have family in Austin that does. As I have said, I'm not a Mike White fan, but I was still rooting. While they could still pull it out with 2 wins, it just doesn't look likely.

Then Clemson lost to OK State. While I basically expected that result, I can't help but root for a new program like Clemson to make the World Series. Like the case for Texas, Clemson isn't dead, but it doesn't look good.
 
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That catcher's interference call. smh.

Ehhh....... Hannah Bowen is at 155 pitches. So hopefully we can bark back.
 
Not a big softball fan in general but got to tune into OK and Jocelyn Alo.

ESPN had a nice bio-video on her.
 
UCF bonehead play to pitch to Alo with players on 2nd and 3rd and 2 outs ignoring the open base. Alo effortlessly clears the fence by 50 feet. 3-0 game becomes 6-0.
 
eebmg said:
UCF bonehead play to pitch to Alo with players on 2nd and 3rd and 2 outs ignoring the open base. Alo effortlessly clears the fence by 50 feet. 3-0 game becomes 6-0.
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I remember that from watching some of Oklahoma last year--they just don't let you get away with making mistakes against them.
 
Arizona St. and Northwestern are currently in the 10th inning of Game 1 of their series.
 
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I guess Arizona St. got tired of playing in the 1tth. Gave the game away. Northwestern got the winning run without getting anything out of the infield. Terrible throw to first, pitch that got away from the catcher, just terrible end to the game for them.
 
Okie St. knocked out Clemson, first to advance to OKC.

Texas beat Arkansas today to force a third game.
 
Oregon St. takes game 1 against Stanford. I guess they lost A BUNCH of games by 1 run this year (6 in a row against Washington and UCLA). Something finally clicked for them and they're getting Ws instead of Ls. Now one win from OKC, who would've predicted that a week ago?
 
Duke made UCLA work for it, but Bruins w/ a late rally to win Game 1 3-2. Winning pitcher Fairamo helped her own cause w/ a 2 run single in the bottom of the 6th, the go ahead runs.
 
Mixed bag for this fan. Happy NW won, always rooted for them in the B1G. Never mind who they were playing. Kind of sorry Duke lost and Clemson was eliminated, as they are young programs and was rooting for them, but not expecting anything different, really.

No horse in the Oregon State / Stanford tilt, just glad to know one will get to the WS. As to Oklahoma, what can you say. I don't like them, I have never rooted for them, but they are clearly the best until they aren't.

Oh, and a happy result in Starkville. Will watch today's games on tape, eventually. After my wife gets up, with her illness she sleeps into the afternoon.
 
Travelman32 said:
Isn't this, more or less, the Oklahoma invitational? Something like 52-2 regular season.

That is the kind of team you see in a sport where you will find people saying "I don't normally watch this sport but...I want to watch THEM" And you tune in and see them beat a team by 20. That is just sick!
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They’re the “UCONN Women’s basketball” of the softball world for sure.
 
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