Support Analysis for the NCAA 2019 Softball Tournament – Seeds, Stars, Surprises and Potential Developers

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The road to the 2018 World Series Women's College in Oklahoma City is ready, and the only thing that is certain is that no one really knows what's going to happen. The NCAA's 2019 softball season saw the best of the best punches, while established stars and new faces delighted and surprised.

Oklahoma, seeded, has won two of the last three championships, but many other teams want to have their say. This is perhaps the top 16 that goes to the regional super. Heck, he could even be the top eight who reach OKC, but nothing is certain. And if there's anything this season has taught us, it's that something unexpected will inevitably happen.

Here are the scenarios we watch as the NCAA Tournament begins Thursday.

Oklahoma seems unstoppable

The Big 12 Championship has been canceled due to rainy weather and that is pretty much the only thing that has not changed lately. The Sooners are well placed in a series of 39 wins, just eight games in the NCAA Division 1, with 47 wins.

The Arizona State transfer, Giselle Juarez (22-0), has not lost a match yet and her countryman friend Mariah Lopez (17-1) is also experiencing an outstanding season. In addition to the significant defense of Oklahoma, the offensive power of his bats. Under the leadership of the best player of the year, Sydney Romero, Oklahoma is leading the country in number of home runs per game (1.90) and average batting (.365). Romero leads the team with 17 circuits this season.

In addition to all the outstanding statistics the Sooners have published this season, there are also memories of the past. The senior class, consisting of Romero, Shay Knighten, Fale Aviu and Caleigh Clifton, was present. Two times. The group won national titles in first and second year. After watching Florida State win last year, he misses a third.

SEC surprise

Each SEC team made the tournament. Again. And the SEC has the most ranked teams (six). The overall presence of the conference is not surprising. What is surprising is the order in which the teams fell.

Florida, SEC tournament champion, ranked fifth, was ranked ahead of SEC's regular season champion Alabama, 8th.

To be clear: Florida (44-15, 12-12) did not have a bad season. This was just not as successful as the seasons we used to live in Florida. But go to .500 at the conference and be swept home less than a month ago by the champions of the regular season and then to be sown before them will raise a few eyebrows.

Florida looked fragile during the season, but Alabama had always dominated. The Crimson Tide scored 18-6 in conference play and has the highest number of wins among all teams in the field with 52 points. Alabama's off-conference program was not particularly busy, but it has recorded successes against Arizona and Minnesota.

The bottom line is that both SEC schools can accommodate Oklahoma City as long as they continue to win. But do not blame the Tuscaloosa players if they scratch their heads on Friday.

The last hurray of Kelly Barnhill

One of the most compelling stories of the post-season is the pursuit of Florida ace Kelly Barnhill of a national championship.

When Barnhill was a freshman, the top-seeded Gators, the two-time national champion, were knocked out by rivals Georgia, Georgia, in the super-regions. In second year, Barnhill was in the circle when the Gators bowed to Oklahoma in an epic match No. 1 in the championship series, 7-5 in 17 innings. During his junior season, a frantic fourth run escaped control for Barnhill – a mistake, a hitter-hitter, a home run – against UCLA in the Women's College World Series. He finally condemned the Gators.

Now aged, Barnhill (30-11), a former national player of the year, had to stay very busy for the Gators. In Florida's SEC championship, Barnhill made 334 shots in three games, including 140 in the final, and allowed only one run.

Along with his colleague Amanda Lorenz, Barnhill seems determined to no longer make the same mistakes.

Pac-12 seeks to end drought in championship

The Pac-12s have not won a national softball championship since the state of Arizona in 2011. This year, five contenders on the field could end the drought. UCLA, Washington, Arizona and Arizona, both in second place, are expected to host regions and potentially super regional regions.

UCLA (46-5) has won the most national championships of all softball programs, but has not won the trophy in Oklahoma City since 2010. Washington (45-7), finalist there is a year, won its only title in 2009. The drought in Arizona (42-12) dates back to 2007.

UCLA is led by player of the year Rachel Garcia. Garcia is 20-1 in the circle with an ERA of .98 and hits .352 with 41 RBIs. Washington is the mainstay of his defense, led by Sis Bates at the short stop, as well as pitchers Taran Alvelo (24-4, ERA 1.61) and Gabbie Plain (19-2, 1.32). Jessie Harper leads the offensive in Arizona. The junior slugger is tied for the most home runs this season with 25.

Spoiler alerts?

Remember how we said the only certainty on this slice is uncertainty. Here are some areas that could record high on the theater meter.

The seventh seed, Minnesota (41-12), is hosting a regional competition for the first time since 2014. Heading to Minneapolis are Drake (42-14) and Georgia (40-17). Drake stars as Ace Nicole Newman, who holds the NCAA season record for perfect games with five games. It set the record for the weekend, and the five perfect games have been incredibly successful since March 30th. As for Georgia, we are back on the credits of the SEC. This is what we call combat events. Nevertheless, Minnesota, who was admirably impressed by the committee in 2017, was delighted with the seventh seed. "I had tears in my eyes, no words," said Maddie Houlihan, a straight-line player, a four-year-old star and one of eight remaining players of the 2017 team. " I was so, so excited, we had sort of realistic expectations about what I thought I was, but you never really know what will happen. "

The other members of Michigan's Big Ten team (43-11) were 15th. This is the good news. The bad news is that James Madison (47-7) is on his way to Ann Arbor. The Dukes have one of the best pitching duets in the country at Megan Good (19-5, 1.49 ERA) and Odicci Alexander (22-1, 1.97 ERA). Did we mention that they can both hit, too? They combined to hit 29 homers on the season.

Of course, Florida got seed 5, but she also had a thwarted specialist in the form of Stanford (32-18) heading for Gainesville. The Cardinals have victories over LSU, Michigan, Northwestern and UCLA.

Pat Borzi contributed to this story.