LSU will host a Regional in Tiger Park for the 13th time
When we last left the LSU softball team, the then No. 2 Tigers had held off Texas to stay undefeated at 23-0.
Since then…well LSU fell back to Earth. The Tigers weren’t going to finish the season undefeated, but to say LSU struggled in SEC play would be putting it mildly. LSU finished 12-12 in SEC play, good for 8th in the league.
To their credit, LSU made some noise in the SEC Tournament. The Tigers made the tournament semifinals for the first time since 2017; LSU beat Alabama in a dramatic 14-inning marathon in their tournament opener, and then took out the top seeded Tennessee Volunteers by a 2-1 margin in the quarterfinals.
LSU’s run in Auburn would come to an end at the hands of Missouri in the semifinal round. Missouri went on to lose to Florida in the championship game.
But what’s done is done, and on Sunday the NCAA Tournament bracket was released and LSU just barely missed out on a top-8 seed. Instead, LSU will have to settle for being the No. 9 seed meaning the Tigers will host a regional at Tiger Park beginning this weekend.
LSU is paired with the No. 8 seed Stanford Cardinal. It is LSU’s 18th consecutive season making the Tournament and the 13th time—and the eighth time in the past nine years— the Tigers will be a hosting team. LSU will welcome in Cal, Southern Illinois, and Jackson State. Cal and SIU will play the 2 vs. 3 game, while LSU will play Jackson State in the 1 vs. 4 game at 5:00 P.M. on Friday. That game will be televised on SEC Network.
The SEC’s the best softball conference in America for a reason and the league showed why on Sunday. All 13 schools who field a softball team made the NCAA Tournament; eight of those schools will be hosting regionals this weekend, and that’s not including Texas and Oklahoma who are the top two seeds in the NCAA Tournament.