A few tidbits from around the nation, as we await the start of super-regionals on Friday... Northwestern University student radio broadcasters Dan Platt and Howard Tilman preview each of the super-regional series. In my links section on the right, go to Softball Bracketology--WNUR Sports , then when the page comes up, select Bracketology Week 8: Super Regional Edition . Our friendly bracketologists are also keeping a running count of how each conference is doing, complete with lines crossing-out eliminated teams. The University of Michigan site has a photo essay of the Wolverines' regional-clinching win over Oklahoma last Sunday. UM's upcoming opponent, Tennessee, likewise has pictures from the Vols' win over Louisville to advance. ESPN.com offers this overview of the past weekend's regionals and upcoming super-regionals. The apparent reference in this piece to Stanford losing to Tulsa in regional play is incorrect, however. As shown in this game-by-game log , t...

The opening weekend of NCAA tournament action is now on the books! The 16 surviving teams move on to next weekend's super-regionals (most of them, Friday-Saturday, May 26-27). There are eight "supers," each hosting two teams, who play a two-out-of-three series to see who qualifies for the Women's College World Series. Here is a link to the official NCAA brackets, updated to reflect who will be meeting in the super-regionals. In 13 of the 16 regions, things went according to plan, as the designated national seed was victorious. The three unseeded teams advancing are South Florida (from the regional in which the University of Florida was the national seed), Florida State (where Georgia was the national seed), and UMass (where Texas A&M was the national seed). One of the most interesting super-regionals, if not the most interesting one, will send defending national champion Michigan (No. 9 national seed) to Knoxville, to face No. 8 seed Tennessee. The series wi...

5:50 pm Central: There have been several interesting developments in NCAA regional softball action thus far today. We have our first qualifier for next weekend's super-regionals, the Washington Huskies. In the only other regional on a Thursday-Saturday schedule, Arizona is seeking to join its fellow Pac 10 school in the "supers." The Wildcats just need to beat Auburn once, out of two opportunities, to win the regional. The Tigers have a loss (to Ohio State, which Auburn avenged, sending the Buckeyes home), so Auburn would need to beat the Wildcats twice to win the regional. Arizona-Auburn is currently on ESPN2, and the Wildcats seem comfortably ahead. Jennie Ritter continues to carry defending NCAA champion Michigan, now the only undefeated team in the Ann Arbor regional and one win away (Sunday) from making the super-regionals. The Wolverines' win today wasn't easy, as they needed nine innings (two beyond the regulation seven) to edge Oklahoma, 1-0. A...

10:45 am Central: The bulk of regional action gets underway today. Two regions started yesterday, however ( scoreboard ). In the four games played, all of the losing teams were shut out. In the Tucson regional, host Arizona won easily. In the other opening-round game, Ohio State edged Auburn 1-0 in 10 innings, the Buckeyes being helped by a dramatic triple play in the bottom of the seventh inning. In the Provo regional (where Washington is actually the nationally prominent seed), the Huskies won their opener, as did Big 12 tournament champion Kansas. There's going to be a ton of games today and over the weekend, with 14 additional regions beginning play, and winners', as well as losers', bracket games. As I did for last week's conference tourneys, I'll focus on the upsets that occur during regionals, thus allowing me to keep my summaries to a manageable scope. Thus, if you're a fan of a highly ranked team and don't see me writing anything, "no ...

Here’s an interesting item I recently saw on the Ultimate College Softball discussion boards (I’ve cleaned up a few typos): On Wednesday, May 17th from 6 pm to 8 pm CST, "The Road to the Women's College World Series" debuts on the internet. It's an idea put together by Nic Hoch, the Sports Director for WVUA-FM, 90.7 (the voice of Alabama softball). This is an idea that's long overdue, kind of like the road to the final four for basketball. There are going to be special guests and segments for callers to ask questions, make predictions, etc. This is the first year and I really hope this catches on as the game of softball continues to expand. There are a couple of ways to access the show, but the easiest is as follows. The direct link to the web stream is [ here ]. Again, the show will air May 17th at 6:00 CST to 8:00 CST. Anyone that clicks on this link will be taken to an audio stream, most likely through Windows Media Player. "If it goes over well and we get...

Continuing with the previewing of the NCAA regionals, the University of Arizona has received the No. 2 seed nationally (behind UCLA) and a lot of "buzz", thanks in good part to a 10-game winning streak to close the season (and, presumably, Texas's two-and-out collapse at the Big 12 tournament). As shown in this U of A game-by-game log , the Wildcats defeated Washington, Stanford, Oregon, and Oregon State twice each, and Arizona State and Cal once each, during the streak. One often hears about the importance of momentum heading into play-off competition, and the 2005 MLB World Series champion Chicago White Sox provide some anecdotal support for the proposition. The Chisox won their final five games of the regular season , then went 11-1 in the post-season , for a 16-1 close-out, overall. In late September 2005, in fact, the baseball website Hardball Times published a piece analyzing many years of data to assess the degree to which September success carried over to cham...

The NCAA Division I softball selection show ended a short time ago on ESPNews. In this posting, I link to the official brackets for the 64-team field, and provide some initial reaction. The official list of the 16 regionals (each a double-elimination affair), the teams comprising them, and the host sites is available here . Most of the regionals start this Friday, May 19, although a few start Thursday, May 18. Within each region, only one team has been given a national seeding, anywhere from 1 to 16. The 16 regional winners are then paired off to compete a week later in eight super-regionals, each a two-out-of-three series. The winners of the super-regionals go to the Women's College World Series in Oklahoma City. As shown in the linked brackets (above), the regionals feed into the "supers" such that the national seed of the top team in one region, when combined with that of the top team in the "partnered" region, add up to 17 (e.g., 1 vs. 16, 2 vs. 15, ......