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Did The Lady Vol Softball Team Deserve A Higher Seed?

By Austin Clay

Feb 23, 2016; Knoxville, TN, USA; Tennessee Volunteers co-head softball coach Karen Weekly speaks during the joint head coach press conference at Brenda Lawson Athletic Center. Mandatory Credit: Randy Sartin-USA TODAY Sports
Feb 23, 2016; Knoxville, TN, USA; Tennessee Volunteers co-head softball coach Karen Weekly speaks during the joint head coach press conference at Brenda Lawson Athletic Center. Mandatory Credit: Randy Sartin-USA TODAY Sports /
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Ever since Monica Abbott was sending batters down one at a time by strikeout Vol fans have been tuned in to heir softball team. They have had success ever since then under the direction of the Weeklys.

Recently the team received the No. 13 seed in the 2016 NCAA Softball Tournament. There are 16 seeds that play as host to the Regionals. The winner of each regional then heads to the Super Regionals with the winner off to the Women’s College World Series.

The selection committee for the softball tournament has placed teams in questionable seeds the past few years. This year, for example, the Lady Vol softball team entered the SEC Tournament ranked ninth nationally. They lost to LSU in the semifinals who was ranked No. 12 in the polls. LSU went on to lose the final to Auburn.

How does a team that was ranked in the top 10 entering their conference tournament end up with a No. 13 seed after losing in extra innings in the semifinals?

Florida lost in the semifinals to Auburn but they still secured the No. 1 seed for the tournament.

You can understand Florida staying No. 1 overall but how can they put Tennessee at 13 after they went as far as they were supposed to with the No. 3 seed in the SEC Tournament?

Here’s some seedings that will blow your mind:

Kentucky lost in the quarterfinals as the two seed in the SEC Tournament. They entered the tournament ranked No. 11 nationally and end up with the No. 9 seed in the NCAA Tournament. How?

This one is even more whack. Missouri lost in the first round to South Carolina. They entered the weekend ranked No. 16 nationally. They ended up with the No. 15 seed in the NCAA Tournament. They lost in the first round as the higher seed, yet they were rewarded with a better seed than their national ranking.

This boggles the mind. It seems as if the Lady Vols were punished for losing in the semifinals.

The selection committee may look at the regular season more than the conference tournaments, but that still raises questions. Just two weekends ago the Lady Vols run ruled eventual SEC champion Auburn twice. (One would think that was a HUGE boost.) Tennessee also earned the No. 3 seed in their conference tournament ahead of Auburn and Alabama who both got a higher seed than they did. Alabama even lost in the quarterfinals but still somehow got the No. 6 seed nationally. Oh, they were also the No.5 seed in the SEC Tournament.

How does this keep happening?

I don’t know how to explain the selection committee’s process but this is ridiculous. The Lady Vols deserved higher.

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