For what's it's worth, and probably not much. My ranking of the easiest to hardest of the top 8: Texas, Oklahoma, UF, Stanford, Tennessee, UCLA, Okie State and Missouri. Give me a minute and I'll probably flip a couple.
Guess I was wrong l, the sec tourney did matter. Think we were a lock pre tournament for top 8 but no way a 4 seed without winning the SECs. Seems like a good draw, happy to be matched up with some new opponents. Don't much care, but Aggies finish third in sec and get a #16 seed while Bama finishes 9th and gets a 14 seed???? I know conference standings aren't supposed to matter but damn that makes no sense to me. . Maybe the committee just wanted an Aggie/ Horns matchup in the supers.
This isn't the first time but I need to give a shout out to Ariel. This kid came in as somewhat of an overlooked (big mistake in my book) member of the freshmen class. She owned third base replacing an All-SEC and All-American type player. She had two legit errors in 110 chances. She hit almost .310 and improved in the SEC part of the season. I said weeks ago she reminds me of Hannah Adams and you can make a strong argument Ariel's freshman start was better than Hannah's.
Take away Keagan, AK rivals Ava for Gator Freshman of the Year. Of course I’m partial to AK because she’s an engineering major.
AK was definitely the surprise freshman of the year. When I saw her at the season opening tournament in Tampa I was extremely impressed with her and she was able to maintain that level of play throughout the season. As top five recruits we all had high expectations for Keagan, Ava and Mia. Keagan and Ava have performed as advertised and you can argue they have overachieved. Keagan has settled in and has been at her best as of late. I expected Ava to excel on the mound but who could have predicted her offensive production of 12 HR and 39 RBI. Mia has been a head scratcher. As the number one or two ranked recruit in her class the past four years I must admit I expected her to come in walking on water! For whatever reasons it didn’t happen but she is showing signs that the light may have come on for her. Not too many young ladies can hit a near 300 foot homerun. If she is starting to settle in, look out! It’s nice to have a nine hole hitter hitting three run homeruns and turning the lineup over to the top.
This has been a fun team to watch. Going to have to score runs in bunches though. Post season REQUIRES pitching depth. A concern 4 sure.
SoSo is a mess. She was a great player and a fun teammate. Fun fact-Of the 7 total home runs in her career 3 of them were in the WCWS. 2017-Oklahoma 2018-UCLA 2019-Alabama This was in her last at-bat at the WCWS. You could see it all over her, this is what I am going to do.
While re-watching the SEC final, I was thinking that her eye for the strike zone and comfort even with 2 strikes reminded me of Amanda Lorenz.
Although they almost alweays get broken up through the process, IF the Top 8 seeds all make it to OKC, Florida would play Oklahoma State in their first game and would be in the same bracket with #1 Texas & #8 Stanford. Looking at the Super Regional pairings, who could bust the bracket on Florida's side? We have the Texas A&M regional winner vs. the Texas regional winner. The LSU regional winner vs. the Stanford regional winner. The Arkansas regional winner vs. the Oklahoma State regional winner. And the Louisiana regional winner vs. the Florida regional winner. I think Texas will make OKC, although watch out for Texas State in that bracket. I think LSU will get to OKC. I know most posters here don't like LSU or respect their season, but since Beth Torina is a former Gator pitcher, they've always been my 2nd favorite SEC softball team. A dark horse for me in that bracket is Mississippi State. I pick Oklahoma State to make it to OKC, but they have a tough road, IMO. Watch out for Michigan and also Arkansas needs to watch out for Arizona. I think Florida makes it to OKC as well. They've played as well as anyone in the country the last 3 weeks and if they can stay at that level they're going to be a tough team to beat. I'm a little concerned about South Alabama, plus Baylor could take out the Ragin' Cajuns, but I think the Gators prevail. Bottom line, my 4 picks from that side of the bracket to make it to OKC are Texas, LSU, Oklahoma State & Florida. I think the best chance for a higher seed on this side to get knocked out would be the OSU Cowboys.
Brutal with the time slots for this weekend! Noon on Friday (vs. FGCU) 1PM winner's bracket game on Saturday Go GATORS! ,WESGATORS
I tagged this as "Best Post Ever" because you are talking OKC, and I have the willies over FAU for some reason.
