Tech vs. Minnesota in Tuscaloosa
FIU vs. Oklahoma St. in Gainesville
Marshall vs. Illinois in Lexington

Marshall heading back to the Lexington Regional

Illinois
Marshall

good to see 3 CUSA teams get in

If FAU doesn't make it I wonder if they will take a spot in the NISC.

National Invitational Softball Championship

Its a new tournament that will start this year and is almost like the NIT of softball. Will be interesting to see who accepts bids to this new tournament.

(05-14-2017 09:16 PM)techdawg88 Wrote:  Tech vs. Minnesota in Tuscaloosa
FIU vs. Oklahoma St. in Gainesville
Marshall vs. Illinois in Lexington

Not a big softball follower so how do fans of the 3 feel about their regionals and the realistic, non-biased chances of advancing. Assuming all 3 are either 2/3 seeds as they aren't playing the host team in game 1. TIA

Tech & FIU could meet in the super regionals

(05-14-2017 09:42 PM)usm99 Wrote:  

(05-14-2017 09:16 PM)techdawg88 Wrote:  Tech vs. Minnesota in Tuscaloosa
FIU vs. Oklahoma St. in Gainesville
Marshall vs. Illinois in Lexington

Not a big softball follower so how do fans of the 3 feel about their regionals and the realistic, non-biased chances of advancing. Assuming all 3 are either 2/3 seeds as they aren't playing the host team in game 1. TIA

I think Jordan Dixon can beat almost anyone if she is on her game, and she has been for the most part this year. In one of the 1st games of the year she lost a game to Florida State 1-0 who was ranked #3 in the country at the time. She only gave up two hits in that game, back to back hits in the 1st inning.

Dixon also has the 2nd most wins in the NCAA this year with 33. She is #1 in wins, #1 in strikeouts, #1 in innings pitched #2 in ERA, #3 in least walks at Marshall.

Marshall went to Lexington regional in 2013 where it was Kentucky, VA Tech, Notre Dame and Marshall. Marshall went 1-2 in the regional. They lost a 13 inning showdown with VA Tech 3-2 on an infield base running crazy play. Then they beat Notre Dame and eliminated them and lost a 7-5 decision to Kentucky who won the regional.

(05-14-2017 10:00 PM)HerdZoned Wrote:  

(05-14-2017 09:42 PM)usm99 Wrote:  

(05-14-2017 09:16 PM)techdawg88 Wrote:  Tech vs. Minnesota in Tuscaloosa
FIU vs. Oklahoma St. in Gainesville
Marshall vs. Illinois in Lexington

Not a big softball follower so how do fans of the 3 feel about their regionals and the realistic, non-biased chances of advancing. Assuming all 3 are either 2/3 seeds as they aren't playing the host team in game 1. TIA

I think Jordan Dixon can beat almost anyone if she is on her game, and she has been for the most part this year. In one of the 1st games of the year she lost a game to Florida State 1-0 who was ranked #3 in the country at the time. She only gave up two hits in that game, back to back hits in the 1st inning.

Dixon also has the 2nd most wins in the NCAA this year with 33. She is #1 in wins, #1 in strikeouts, #1 in innings pitched #2 in ERA, #3 in least walks at Marshall.

Marshall went to Lexington regional in 2013 where it was Kentucky, VA Tech, Notre Dame and Marshall. Marshall went 1-2 in the regional. They lost a 13 inning showdown with VA Tech 3-2 on an infield base running crazy play. Then they beat Notre Dame and eliminated them and lost a 7-5 decision to Kentucky who won the regional.

That's sort of what happened in 2013. Right teams.
Marshall lost to UK, 2-1 in 8 innings on Day 1. Herd beat Notre Dame, 3-1, before losing to Virginia Tech, 3-2 in 13 innings. VT's first run still hasn't touched the plate. Ump made such a bad call that while the game was on ESPN3, ESPN did a cut-in to show how bad the call was.

Marshall plays on ESPN2 Friday at Noon.

No FAU but gritty WKU accepts a bid to the NISC.

NISC Field

WKU heads to Atlanta where Georgia State is hosting.

(05-14-2017 10:16 PM)HerdZoned Wrote:  No FAU but gritty WKU accepts a bid to the NISC.

NISC Field

WKU heads to Atlanta where Georgia State is hosting.

It's a 26 team field (originally announced to be a 48 team tournament).
Only 15 of the automatic bids accepted. The plan was to give 32 teams an automatic bid (the top team from each conference not in the NCAA).
Only 1 team from a P5 conference (Michigan State).

La Tech is in the Tuscaloosa Regional as the 3-seed. Playing 2-seed Minnesota first. Other two teams are #16 Alabama and 4-seed Albany.

Here's the problem. The biggest story from this bracket that is blowing up Twitter right now is Minnesota. They had the best record in the nation and won the Big 10, but are not hosting a regional. The committee basically said "Minnesota ain't played nobody Pawwwwwl." Only 4 games against T25, and they went 2-2. Apparently there was "stunned silence" in the room when they found out they weren't hosting.

So basically, Minnesota is gonna be PISSED and we get the honor of being the first team they face. Joy.

I'm optimistic and kinda want that Tech vs FIU Super Regional (who would host that?), but honestly I don't see us beating Minny. As long as we beat Albany I'll be satisfied.

P.S. Every single SEC team got into the tournament (Vandy doesn't play softball).

(05-14-2017 10:21 PM)CoachMaclid Wrote:  It's a 26 team field (originally announced to be a 48 team tournament).
Only 15 of the automatic bids accepted. The plan was to give 32 teams an automatic bid (the top team from each conference not in the NCAA).
Only 1 team from a P5 conference (Michigan State).

This will be interesting to watch over the next few years. Will it grow and become more popular or will it start to be more and more like the CIT or CBI where more and more teams are starting to turn down the pay for play. I don't think this is a pay for play though.

Honestly there are a few teams in that tournament that probably should have gotten in over some lower seeded team. Both Kennesaw State and Ohio should have been in and maybe UNCW.

There are only 16 seeds seeded nationally, so Minnesota is not a 2 seed, they are unseeded, just like all of us. Its set up for 2 nationally seeded teams to give them the best chance to advance in each region. FIU and La Tech got screwed. Marshall got the best draw and best chance to advance with UK being the "best" team in the region at #14 seed.

i didn't even realize AAC only has 7 teams that play softball

(05-14-2017 10:37 PM)goherd24herdfans Wrote:  There are only 16 seeds seeded nationally, so Minnesota is not a 2 seed, they are unseeded, just like all of us. Its set up for 2 nationally seeded teams to give them the best chance to advance in each region. FIU and La Tech got screwed. Marshall got the best draw and best chance to advance with UK being the "best" team in the region at #14 seed.

Within the regional they are the 2-seed, which is what I meant. Alabama is the national 16 seed.

(05-14-2017 10:37 PM)goherd24herdfans Wrote:  There are only 16 seeds seeded nationally, so Minnesota is not a 2 seed, they are unseeded, just like all of us. Its set up for 2 nationally seeded teams to give them the best chance to advance in each region. FIU and La Tech got screwed. Marshall got the best draw and best chance to advance with UK being the "best" team in the region at #14 seed.

The Gophers got hosed. Yes their OOC schedule was more than a cream puff, they also only went 2-2 with top 15 teams. But come on they were 53-4. You have to at least give them somewhere near a 10 seed if nothing else.

(05-14-2017 10:37 PM)techdawg88 Wrote:  i didn't even realize AAC only has 7 teams that play softball

Actuall the ACC has 11 but up until about 5-6 years ago softball was more seen as a west coast thing like lacrosse is seen as a Northeast almost New England sport. A lot of ACC teams are like WVU, they had gymnastics already and have never seen the benefit of adding softball.

For those now wondering the 11 ACC schools who have softball are:

Boston College
Florida State
Georgia Tech
Louisville
North Carolina
NC State
Notre Dame
Pittsburgh
Virginia
VA Tech


With only about half of those schools putting a real effort into sporting a good team, the rest have it as a title 9 cover. The 4 that do not have softball are Clemson, Duke, Miami and Wake Forest and as I mentioned they all have gymnastics instead.

(05-14-2017 10:37 PM)goherd24herdfans Wrote:  There are only 16 seeds seeded nationally, so Minnesota is not a 2 seed, they are unseeded, just like all of us. Its set up for 2 nationally seeded teams to give them the best chance to advance in each region. FIU and La Tech got screwed. Marshall got the best draw and best chance to advance with UK being the "best" team in the region at #14 seed.

I don't believe Tech got screwed since they had to win out just to get a bid

(05-14-2017 11:02 PM)HerdZoned Wrote:  

(05-14-2017 10:37 PM)goherd24herdfans Wrote:  There are only 16 seeds seeded nationally, so Minnesota is not a 2 seed, they are unseeded, just like all of us. Its set up for 2 nationally seeded teams to give them the best chance to advance in each region. FIU and La Tech got screwed. Marshall got the best draw and best chance to advance with UK being the "best" team in the region at #14 seed.

The Gophers got hosed. Yes their OOC schedule was more than a cream puff, they also only went 2-2 with top 15 teams. But come on they were 53-4. You have to at least give them somewhere near a 10 seed if nothing else.

(05-14-2017 10:37 PM)techdawg88 Wrote:  i didn't even realize AAC only has 7 teams that play softball

Actuall the ACC has 11 but up until about 5-6 years ago softball was more seen as a west coast thing like lacrosse is seen as a Northeast almost New England sport. A lot of ACC teams are like WVU, they had gymnastics already and have never seen the benefit of adding softball.

For those now wondering the 11 ACC schools who have softball are:

Boston College
Florida State
Georgia Tech
Louisville
North Carolina
NC State
Notre Dame
Pittsburgh
Virginia
VA Tech


With only about half of those schools putting a real effort into sporting a good team, the rest have it as a title 9 cover. The 4 that do not have softball are Clemson, Duke, Miami and Wake Forest and as I mentioned they all have gymnastics instead.

Looks like he said AAC (as in the American), not ACC. on a related note, the Big 12 has 7 teams

(05-15-2017 08:07 AM)UNT15 Wrote:  Looks like he said AAC (as in the American), not ACC. on a related note, the Big 12 has 7 teams

My bad, I see A** and my brain automatically goes to the ACC not the AAC.

The AAC does only have 7

UConn
ECU
Houston
Memphis
UCF
USF

Those that don't have softball in the AAC are Cincinnati, SMU, Temple and Tulane. From my memory only ECU and Houston really supported their softball programs. In 2013 Marshall had to go through UCF and ECU to get to the finals and beat Houston 3-2 in the finals. Wichita State will up them to 8 softball programs but historically WSU has always been middle of the pack to celler dweller in the MVC.

Besides CUSA with 3 in (LA Tech, FIU, Marshall) the only multi bid conference not in a P5 was the Sun Belt (ULL, Texas State).

(05-14-2017 10:21 PM)CoachMaclid Wrote:  

(05-14-2017 10:16 PM)HerdZoned Wrote:  No FAU but gritty WKU accepts a bid to the NISC.

NISC Field

WKU heads to Atlanta where Georgia State is hosting.

It's a 26 team field (originally announced to be a 48 team tournament).
Only 15 of the automatic bids accepted. The plan was to give 32 teams an automatic bid (the top team from each conference not in the NCAA).
Only 1 team from a P5 conference (Michigan State).

Yea so what happened with this tournament? My guess a lot of schools said thanks but no thanks....Doesn't look to be a great field and 26 teams is a lot different than 48 on top of taking schools with huge losing records...