SEC shines while ACC flounders: Winners and losers from NCAA Softball Tournament reveal

Nebraska

Powered by arguably the best two-way player in the sport, Jordy Frahm, the Cornhuskers grabbed the final No. 1 seed in the tournament and received a relatively manageable draw for their regional. Nebraska will open the postseason against South Dakota, which surprisingly won the Summit League Tournament with a losing record of 20-34-1. Other teams in the Cornhuskers’ regional include Louisville and Grand Canyon.

As one of the top eight seeds in the field, Nebraska will also host Super Regionals should they triumph this weekend. A year ago, the Cornhuskers had to play at Tennessee in the supers. This time around, the path to Oklahoma City is a bit easier for Frahm and the Big Ten champs.

Mid-majors

Three teams from mid-major conferences earned at-large bids to the NCAA Tournament with SE Louisiana, Texas State and Marshall all hearing their names called on May 10. SELA opens against Belmont, Texas State will face Florida A&M, and Marshall will take on Arizona. Nods for Marshall and Texas State make the Sun Belt a three-bid league as they join automatic qualifier South Alabama.

In a year where some coaches — like UConn women’s basketball’s Geno Auriemma — have said that the transfer portal and NIL harms mid-majors, that doesn’t seem to be true in softball. Two other mid-majors — Nevada and Wichita State — were amongst the first four teams out of the field. To compare softball to the women’s basketball tournament, just one mid-major, Richmond, received an at-large bid this past season.

Losers

ACC

Despite pleas from ACC Commissioner Jim Phillips and Virginia Tech head coach Pete D'Amour, the conference earned just two top-16 seeds in the tournament. Only Florida State and Duke will host games in regional play this weekend, while Stanford and the Hokies were placed on the five-line. The Cardinal will play at Oklahoma State’s regional in Stillwater, while Virginia Tech is heading down to Baton Rouge hosted by LSU.

Making matters worse for the ACC, North Carolina was not awarded an at-large bid and was one of the first four teams excluded from the field. The draw of this tournament follows the results of last year’s, where the ACC failed to send a team to the Women’s College World Series.

As the No. 9 overall seed, Florida State — the conference champions — has the best chances of any ACC of hosting Super Regionals. The Seminoles just need one of the top eight seeds to get upset this weekend.

Texas Tech

Texas Tech led all Power Four teams with 51 wins, but lands the No. 11 overall seed after falling to Arizona State 4-0 in the Big 12 Tournament championship. The Red Raiders boast one of the nation's best players in two-time national player of the year NiJaree Canady, who carried them to the national championship series last season.

Texas Tech has one of the most talented rosters in the country, especially with two-way star Kaitlyn Terry in the fold after transferring from UCLA. The Red Raiders fell victim to their weak RPI metric (No. 15) thanks to playing a relatively weak schedule (No. 172-ranked strength of schedule).

Texas Tech lines up with No. 6 Florida or the Gainesville Regional winner in Super Regionals, which has the potential to be fireworks.

Teams in Tuscaloosa Regional

Alabama landed the top overall seed, but the NCAA committee didn't do it any favors with its draw. Heading to the Tuscaloosa Regional is Southeastern Louisiana, the No. 37 team in RPI who went 47-14 on the year. Facing SELA in the first round is Belmont and Maya Johnson, the No. 3 overall pick of the AUSL who leads college softball with a ridiculous 0.66 earned-run average on the year.

While the Bruins will have to score runs, Johnson is more than capable of keeping Belmont in games with her dominance in the circle. Should Belmont's sticks get out, it could be a dangerous opponent for Alabama, who's led by quite the pitching duo itself in SEC Pitcher of the Year Jocelyn Briski and true freshman standout Vic Moten.

Alabama opens the Tuscaloosa Regional against South Carolina-Upstate, but could be in for some tougher-than-expected matchups before Supers.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Winners and losers from NCAA Softball Tournament bracket reveal