While my post yesterday was dedicated to the Division I softball tournament, today I am going to take a step back and look at how the Division II regionals played out. We get a little bit of a break now before the super regionals kick off, but the stage has been set and we have a bit of an idea about what things are going to look like.
Unlike the Division I tournament, the road to the super regionals was a bit bumpier for many of these teams. I think that just speaks to how evenly matched the teams are at this level. You don't have all that Division I money going into recruiting the best players in the country. Which doesn't mean you don't get some exceptional players, but as I said, they are just spread out a bit more.
For example, in the first super regional we are going to look at, we have 4 seed Glenville State vs. 3 seed Kutztown. Now, Glenville State actually lost their first game of the regionals and they had to fight their way back through the losers bracket to earn their spot in the super regionals over University of Charleston (WV). They also took down Claflin and Shippensburg who was a number one seed on their way to the super regionals. By contrast, Kutztown had a pretty straight shot beating out ESTROU, West Chester, and Fairmont State.
In the next quad, 1 seed MO SOU had a straight shot ride to the super regional besting Southern Arkansas, St Cloud State, and AUG SD. They will be facing Central Oklahoma who lost their first game of the regional finals, but came back and won the second one to get the spot over Pittsburg State, Rogers State, and Winona State.
Assumption won their quad over 1 seed Franklin Pierce, Caldwell, and Mercy to punch their ticket to the super regional. Just another example of a 1 seed not making it out of their region. Assumption will be facing STTAQN who had a easy run of wins over Adelphi, Southern NH, and Bridgeport.
Finally on this side of the bracket we had 1 seed UIndy taking down both my alma matter SVSU as well as my nieces Tiffin as well as Ashland to make it to the super regional. They will be facing McKendree who had to tough out a final series win to beat out Findlay, Missour S&T and Rockhurst.
Over on the other side we see 1 seed Saint Leo beating out AUM, Tampa, and Spring Hill to take on 7 seed UAH who took down West Florida, West Alabama, and Montevallo.
West Texas A&M fought hard against Angelo State, TAMUK, and CSU Pueblo to face an OK Christian team that beat STMYTX, CO CHR, and UT Tyler.
2 seed Francis Marion took down Lenoir-Rhyne, Anderson (SC), and Carson-Newman to face 1 seed UNG who didn't have an easy path to the super regional. In fact, UNG had to fight their way through the losers bracket against Columbus State, Lander, and LNCMEM to move on.
Finally, we have 1 seed CSUSM taking down CSUDH, CSUMB, and Hawaii Hilo to punch their spot against 6 seed Biola. Biola beat CUI, CSUEBY, and Western Washington to make it to the super regionals.
Super regionals start on Thursday the 21st.
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