A day for the underdog
I'm still trying to get over the fact that the Division I tournaments for power conferences in softball are single elimination and the mid major conferences are double elimination. That doesn't make a ton of sense to me, but I am sure there is a good reason for it being that way. That being said, the conference tournaments got into full swing (pun intended) yesterday with a whole mess of games being played. The action continues today and my nieces team has their first game in the Big South tournament.
Let's start off with the ACC Tournament. Remember, this is single elimination for the power conferences like the Big 10, SEC, and ACC, so if you lose, you are heading home. Georgia Tech hammered Notre Dame 13 to 3 to send the Fighting Irish packing with a regular season record of 25 and 28, they won't be seeing any of the national tournament either.
Louisville edged out NC State 6 to 5 to stay alive, North Carolina took down Clemson 4 to 2 in a stunner for the team ranked 22 in the nation. Virginia was ranked at one point, but it seems they have fallen out of the top 25. Nevertheless they beat Pittsburgh in a close 2 to 1 game.
In the Big South, Gardner-Webb took down Presbyterian 6 to 4. Remember though, the Blue Hose aren't out of the running yet since the Big South is a double elimination tournament.
In the Big Ten, Washington bested Minnesota 4 to 2, Michigan slammed Ohio State 9 to 0, Wisconsin beat Purdue 4 to 3, and Penn State turned on the offense against Northwestern beating them 11 to 5.
Finally, we move to the SEC. That's honestly where most of the action is going to be taking place since a fair number of the top teams in the nation are in the SEC. Either that or the Big 12. You may have noticed I haven't really talked about the Big 12, but that's because their conference tournament doesn't start until today.
So back to the SEC... Auburn had a huge upset win over number 16 Texas A&M 11 to 8, Number 5 Arkansas beat number 18 Mississippi State 3 to 0, and Ole Miss had a nice stunner against number 7 Tennessee 4 to 1. Finally, Number 12 Georgia took down number 17 LSU 7 to 3. See what I mean about there being so many ranked teams in the SEC? It's pretty crazy. The Big 12 is pretty similar.
So right around noon today I will be firing up my ESPN+ account to watch the Radford Highlanders take on USC Upstate in their first game of the tournament.
I'll hit you with all the other scores tomorrow. Be sure to check back!
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