It’s the best time of the year, with NCAA regional softball action kicking off today. One of the most exciting parts of these large NCAA tournaments are upsets, and today I have my top 4 candidates for an upset in the Regional round.
Coming in at #4 is Arizona State in the College Station regional. Their ace pitcher Kenzie Brown is #5 in the nation in strike outs, and has a 1.66 strike out per inning ratio, and is also #12 in the nation with 4.34 hits allowed per 7 innings. Strong pitching wins games, and strong pitching wins championships, and Kenzie Brown is that type of pitcher and has a legitimate shot at upsetting Texas A&M and moving on to the super regional.
Coming in at #3 are the big bats from Virginia Tech in the Baton Rouge regional. Virginia Tech finished the regular season #7 in the nation this year with 445 total runs, #6 in the nation in hits with 550, and #5 in the nation in home runs 105 and #5 in the nation in RBI per game with 7.55. I think this regional will come down to LSU and Virginia Tech, and LSU is a great club in the SEC but are beatable—they were just over .500 in conference play at 13-11 and 37-17 overall. A good team but they are beatable.
Coming in at #2 is SE Louisiana University in the Tuscaloosa Regional. SE Louisiana has lots of great pitching depth—currently #4 in the nation in Team ERA at 1.62, and #4 nation in average hits allowed per seven innings with 4.38.
Alabama is one of my favorites to win the national title this year, but they drew a terrible regional pool, especially because
My #1 upset candidate is Belmont which is also in the Tuscaloosa Regional. Belmont has arguably the best pitcher in the NCAA this year. All-American Maya currently leads the NCAA in strike outs with 381 (and the next closest is over 100 behind her), and leads the nation in ERA with 90.66. Pitchers rule the NCAA tournament, and Belmont has just about the best one there is.
Lots of incredible NCAA softball action this weekend, don’t miss it, and be ready for upsets!
