Alabama and Florida match up tonight in NCAA softball

First pitch tonight for the NCAA Division I Super Regionals, with top-seed Florida home to 16^th seed Alabama in Southeast Conference match-up 

Other best-of-three Supers tonight has 12-time champion,  5^th seeded UCLA, playing host to 12^th seeded Mississippi  

By Arnie Leshin

It was almost like the SEC was going through the motions while the PAC 12 was dominating Division I softball.

Until Alabama came away with the first national championship for the SEC in 2013, it was strictly a run by the PAC 12. UCLA won the initial tournament in 1982 and has won the most, 12. Arizona is next with eight titles, the last coming in 2006.

That conference has also had champions in Arizona State, Washington, and to add more California flavor, Cal-State Fullerton and Fresno State have also won a national title. In all, UCLA has been in 19 finals and Arizona in 10. In one stretch, the Wildcats finished on top in five of seven years.

It would be nice to say that the SEC is just getting started and has a lot of history to make up. Except that before Oklahoma won for the third time last year, it was Florida winning back-to-back championships. Added to the one by the Crimson Tide, that makes three for the SEC. Tennessee and Auburn have made it to the finals only to fall short.

Oh, and Texas A & M (45-10), the 9^th seed that will play at 8^th seed Tennessee (47-10), won the NCAA tournament in 1983 and 1987, but was in the Big 12 back than. Now it’s SEC versus SEC, with one of two openers today matching Florida with Alabama, the other pairing UCLA versus Mississippi. The others throw the first pitch on Friday in the best-of-three.

For now it’s the Super Regionals, 16 schools in quest of making the Elite Eight and playing in Oklahoma City, where the Sooners last years turned back Auburn in the best-of-three finals, 3-2, 7-11, 2-1.

And what do you know, the two meet again in game one Friday at the 7^th seeded Tigers. The 10^th seeded Sooners had to come out of the loser’s bracket to claim the Norman Region that they hosted. Now, with only one senior on the roster, they meet up with Auburn again.

As for the rest of the field that began with 64, eight represent the SEC, Florida is the top seed and will be home to Alabama, which had to settle for the 16^th seed. Oklahoma-Auburn is a rematch and so is the one played by the Gators and Crimson Tide in 2013 and won by Alabama.

The Sooners (54-9) and Bears (48-10) opened this season in Mexico, with Auburn winning 3-2 behind a pair of home runs from Kendall Veach. These are two well-coached teams.

Bears’ Clint Myers has been to 10 Super Regionals and has won nine of them. He was 7-1 in the Supers while at Arizona State, and now 2-0 with Auburn. But Oklahoma, as young as it is, won’t be an easy out with head coach Patty Grasso calling the shots. It is 5-0 when facing elimination the last two times, and had to win four in a row to even get back to the Supers. Its top hurler is junior left-hander Paige Parker.

As for the top seed, Florida (52-7) lost in the first round of its conference tournament, but remain No. 1. It is pitching-strong with 37 shutouts for the campaign, and depends heavily on Kelly Barnhill and Delanie Gourley. Alabama (45-16) owns 26 shutouts, third in the country, and relies on Alexis Osorio and Sydney Littlejohn. Despite its surprising low seeding, it can no doubt surprise on the field of play in this rivalry.

The remaining SEC teams, a tournament record, are 2^nd seeded Arizona (51-7), 12^th seeded Mississippi (43-18), 13^th seeded LSU (48-6), and 14^th seeded Kentucky (41-17).

The Wildcats play host to 15^th seeded Baylor (45-12), a team that can’t be taken lightly despite its low seeding. In fact, the Bears tossed a pair of no-hitters at the region it hosted.

Meanwhile, Kentucky travels to 3^rd seeded Oregon (50-6), Mississippi also makes a long trip to play at 5^th seeded UCLA (45-13), and LSU heads for a match-up at 4^th seeded FSU (54-6) of the ACC.

That leaves one more round-of-16 contest where 6^th seeded Washington (46-11) gets a visit from 11^th seeded Utah (36-14).

The field has former national champs in Oklahoma, Florida, UCLA, Arizona, Washington and Alabama. The Big 10 had its lone winner in Michigan back in 2005, but does not have an entry in this field dominated by the rising SEC.

Knocked out of the field in the regions were Minnesota, which had the best record in the land but was unseeded, James Madison, also unseeded but which had another impressive season, and Arizona State, which won it all in 2012, but did not have one of its better campaigns.

Except for Oklahoma and LSU, the other regions were 3-0 sweeps for the home teams. The Sooners won twice over Tulsa to advance, and the Bayou Tigers did the same against Louisiana-Lafayette.

Arizona, UCLA, Washington and Oregon represent the PAC 12, Oklahoma and Baylor the Big 12, FSU the ACC and Utah the Big West.