ACC Struggles in NCAA Regionals -- MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

ACC Sends Less Than 50% of Teams to Supers

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Happy Monday to our Cardinal Couple readers out there! Daryl had a big birthday yesterday and celebrated into the evening and asked me to help her out today. We certainly wish Daryl the happiest of birthdays!

The NCAA Softball Tournament was in full swing this past weekend with all 16 NCAA Regionals taking place. Despite having nine teams making the NCAA Tournament, the ACC did not fare so well with only two (maybe three as one game was still playing late last night) advancing to the NCAA Super Regionals.

Photo by ACC

5-seed Florida State won their first two games before Auburn got an upset in the winners bracket. Fortunately, it is double elimination so the Seminoles had a second chance and took down the Tigers in the winner-takes-all game. They outscored opponents 25-9 on the weekend.

11-seed Clemson also advanced , but only needed three games to do so. They went undefeated on the weekend with their final win coming against Kentucky. The Tigers outscored opponents 16-3.

14-seed Duke could not capitalize on hosting a Regional and fell to Georgia. The Blue Devils won their opening round in run-rule fashion before being bested by Georgia in their second game. Duke went on to win in the losers bracket by scoring eight runs in the eighth inning to pull off the win. They turned around beat Georgia easily to force the "if necessary" game. Duke scored both of their runs in the first inning and then had to go to extra innings, where the Bulldogs put up a three-spot in extra innings for the upset.

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Virginia was in the region with 8-seed South Carolina. Despite never facing the host Gamecocks, Virginia went 1-2 with both losses coming to North Florida by one run each.

Georgia Tech was in the region with 3-seed Florida. The Yellow Jackets went 0-2, falling to Florida Atlantic and Mercer.

North Carolina was in the region with 7-seed Tennessee. The Tar Heels went 0-2, losing to Ohio State and Miami (OH). I'm sure they would've preferred playing anyone from the other 49 states.

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Virginia Tech was in the region with 15-seed Alabama and nearly came out of the weekend still playing. The opened with a dominating win over Belmont before losing to Alabama by one in the second round. They responded by run-ruling Belmont before falling to the Crimsons by one run in the finale.

California was in the region with 2-seed Oklahoma. After a 1-0 win over Omaha to start the weekend, the Bears were run-ruled by the Sooners the next game. Cal would shut out Omaha for a second time to force a rematch with Oklahoma, but had the same result with a run-rule defeat.

Stanford was in the region with 16-seed Oregon. As of 11:15pm ET last night, the winner-takes-all game was going on with the Cardinal holding a 7-3 lead. Stanford had a great start to the weekend by cruising past Binghamton and run-ruling host Oregon. The Ducks turned around with a run-rule victory themselves, forcing the "if necessary game". A Stanford win would place three ACC teams in the NCAA Super Regional round.

Photo by Jared

There was another exciting game going late into the night too, but this one did not involve an ACC team. 1-seed (top overall seed) Texas A&M was upset by Liberty 6-5, meaning the top overall seed did not advance to the NCAA Super Regionals for the first time since seeding became a thing in 2005.

There are a few teams of note that were playing in the NCAA Regionals that Louisville faced this season. The Cards fell to Liberty 9-4 in the second game of the season. Louisville defeated Florida Atlantic 4-0 while still down in Florida.

Of the ACC teams in the tournament, Louisville went 3-13 against them this year. The Cards were swept 0-3 by Virginia Tech and Duke. They went 1-2 against Florida State, North Carolina, and Virginia. The Cards and Cavaliers met again in the ACC Tournament with Virginia taking the walk-off win.

Photo by Jared

The Cards posted a strong non-conference result, but a 9-15 record in the ACC regular season proved to be the downfall this season. The addition of two new softball teams in Stanford and California has raised the level of the conference. The Cards will need to look at beefing up the roster and making some noise in the ACC next season in hopes to be back dancing in the tournament.

Happy Monday and Go Cards!

Jared