Diving into the ACC Softball Tournament -- TUESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

CARDS #$ SEED IN ACC SOFTBALL TOURNAMENT

As we enter graduation week for many schools, we also see the spring sports seasons winding down. While some sports have already wrapped up their seasons, other teams gear up for postseason play. Louisville softball begins their postseason this week at the ACC Tournament.

As Paulie mentioned yesterday, the Cards earned the 4-seed and did earn a first-round bye. The 4-seed matches the highest seeding Louisville has ever earned in the ACC Tournament.

So, how does the entire ACC Tournament look?

The opening round begins on Wednesday with 8-seed Virginia (30-21, 8-16) and 9-seed Syracuse (18-25-1, 7-15-1) facing each other at 1:00 p.m. The second game of the day features 7-seed Notre Dame (29-16-1, 11-12-1) taking on 10-seed Georgia Tech (25-26, 7-17) at 3:30 p.m.

Thursday picks up with four games. 1-seed Florida State (47-8, 22-2) will square off against the winner of Virginia and Syracuse at 11:00 a.m. 4-seed Louisville (33-17, 16-7) and 5-seed Virginia Tech (36-17, 14-10) will get the second game at 1:30 p.m. 2-seed Duke (43-9, 19-5) takes on the winner of Notre Dame vs Georgia Tech at 5:00 p.m. 3-seed Clemson (45-8, 18-6) and 6-seed North Carolina (26-27, 13-10) close out the day at 7:30 p.m.

Friday gets us to the semifinals. The 1:00 p.m. game will showcase the winner of Florida State - Syracuse - Virginia vs the winner of Louisville - Virginia Tech. The 3:30 p.m. will be the winner of Duke - Notre Dame - Georgia Tech vs the winner of Clemson - North Carolina.

The championship will be at 1:00 p.m. with the two remaining teams vying for a chance to hoist the ACC Championship trophy.

Louisville went 0-3 against Florida State in the regular season, the Cards' only series loss that ended in a sweep. They went 1-2 at Duke. They did not play Clemson, Virginia Tech, or North Carolina. Louisville went 1-2 against Notre Dame.

(Don't stand outside any softball fences with Taylor Roby in town...)

The Cards did go undefeated against the rest of the ACC, including 9-0 against the three teams that did not qualify for the ACC Tournament in Pitt, Boston College, and NC State. All of Louisville's ACC series wins came in sweep fashion.

SOFTBALL BRACKETOLOGY FOR NCAA TOURNAMENT

Unlike basketball, there is no one true bracketology to follow in softball. There is no Charlie Creme for softball. Maybe that's a good thing. A few softball sites will release their thoughts and predictions. Still, the ACC should see no shortage of teams dancing next week.

I have a few thoughts on the scenario that I'll sharer with you.

Florida State is a lock to host an NCAA Regional and seem to be in great shape to host a Super Regional. An ACC Championship would most certainly earn them the #3 overall seed.

Duke and Clemson should both be locks to host NCAA Regionals as well, provided they don't have early exits in the ACC Tournament. Duke has a top-10 RPI, so I could see them sneaking in to host an NCAA Super Regional as well. Clemson's RPI sits a bit further down so they would need some help to be able to host a Super Regional.

Despite the loss at Florida State over the weekend, Louisville seems to be a lock for the NCAA Tournament. I'm not sure hosting a Regional is possible anymore so I expect the Cards will end up as a 2-seed somewhere. Virginia Tech also seems to be a lock for the NCAA Tournament, most likely being a 2-seed somewhere.

While North Carolina finished higher in the ACC than Notre Dame, the latter is more likely to make the NCAA Tournament. The Irish are well out of reach from hosting a Regional, but will probably be a 2-seed or 3-seed somewhere.

We do hope to see more teams form the ACC make the NCAA Tournament. Right now, six teams seems most likely.

We will preview Louisville vs Virginia Tech later in the week.

Happy Tuesday and Go Cards!

Jared