Georgia softball: Bulldogs to host regional in NCAA Tournament
Following a 43-10 regular season and a second round loss in the SEC Tournament, the selection committee awarded Georgia softball with a regional in the NCAA Tournament.
The road to the Women’s College World Series once again rolls through Athens. It’s a large step up from last year when Georgia softball missed the SEC Tournament and settled for a spot in the Tallahassee Regional where they were eliminated by Florida State.
Georgia hosts California, Northwestern and Harvard in a double elimination tournament. They open the Regional this Friday at 2:30 against Harvard. The SEC Network is televising that game. California and Northwestern play at noon on ESPNU. The regionals end on Sunday.
After the regular season, Georgia was ranked no. 10 in the RPI with a 43-10 overall record including a 31-4 record at home and 8-5 record on the road. All 13 SEC teams earned spots in the NCAA Tournament. The RPI has California at no. 29, Northwestern at no. 38, and Harvard at no. 182.
Georgia has now made the NCAA Tournament 17 times, all consecutively. They’ve advanced to the Super Regional nine times and the College World Series three times, most recently in 2016. This is also the ninth time Georgia has hosted a regional. The last time they hosted was also in 2016.
Even without Brittany Grey in the circle, the Lady Dawgs should advance to the Super Regionals again. They’ve dominated at Jack Turner Stadium this year and neither of the other teams in the Athens Region have been great on the road. Athens is also a very long road trip for each team.
California posses a great threat to Georgia however. They come from a very strong Pac-12 Conference that sent seven teams to the NCAA Tournament. The Golden Bears are also one of five teams representing the state of California. In short, they’re better than their 34-16 record suggests.
If Georgia wins the regional, they will host a Super Regional for the fourth time. They’ll most likely play Tennessee who they beat twice earlier this season. The Lady Dawgs run ruled the Volunteers in both games in Knoxville. They’ll have to beat the them twice again to advance to the College World Series in Oklahoma City.
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But the Lady Dawgs could also potentially host no. 25 James Madison, no. 16 Ohio, or no. 119 Monmouth if one of them can upset Tennessee in the Knoxville Regional. The Super regionals take place from May 24 to 27. All tournaments games are televised on the ESPN family of networks.