Mississippi State softball heads into the final weekend of play just barely in play for the Southeastern Conference Tournament
The Mississippi State softball team has been a solid squad throughout the season. The Bulldogs played incredibly well against out of conference foes and made their way into both of the major college softball top 25 rankings for much of the year. But, the Bulldogs could still find themselves on the outside looking in when it comes to the Southeastern Conference Tournament.
After hitting a slump against the toughest SEC opponents that the Mississippi State softball team has faced, the Bulldogs are now simply one game out of last place in the SEC standings. Not exactly a position Vann Stuedeman and her team want to be in.
But such is life in the SEC. It’s totally possible the be a top 25 ranked team but still only be the 12th best team in the conference. And since there are 13 softball teams in the conference and only 12 are allowed to play in the conference tournament, someone will be left out. And it doesn’t really matter how good you were at certain times of the year.
Which, you know, is frustrating. But, well, there’s no way around it.
Mississippi State simply has to work through it. And, right now, that means that Mississippi State softball must survive this weekend and make it into the SEC Tournament. It won’t be easy to do, but it is certainly doable.
Who else is dealing with the unfortunate threat of being left out right now?
Right now, there are a few other teams having to deal with the threat of falling behind and being left out of the SEC tournament. All of these teams have very similar records and could easily find out that they won’t be able to continue playing softball into next week.
Ole Miss is sitting at the very bottom of the SEC standings with a 5-16 SEC record and a conference winning percentage of .238. Mississippi State is one game ahead with a 6-15 record and a .286 winning percentage. Also, given the fact that Mississippi State beat Ole Miss twice, the Bulldogs have pushed ahead of the Rebels a bit with the tie-breaker.
Hopefully for MSU, the Bulldogs won’t need that tie-breaker.
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But, ignoring the tie-breaker for now, there are a couple of other teams toward the back of the pack at the moment. Both Kentucky and Mizzou are down towards the bottom of the SEC standings as well. The two teams have identical SEC records of 6-14 and each hold winning percentages of .300.
It’s possible that, given how things shake up during this weekend, both teams from Mississippi make it in and either Kentucky or Missouri is sitting out this tournament. Given that the tournament is in Columbia, Missouri this year, that’d certainly be pretty awkward for Mizzou to miss out on the tournament they’re hosting.
What do the remaining schedules look like for each of these teams?
Right now, it looks like none of these teams will have it easy. All of them are set to take on considerably better opponents throughout the weekend. But, all four of these teams do get to play at home this weekend.
The 20th ranked Kentucky Wildcats are on a two game losing streak, sit at 29-17 overall, and are getting the pleasure of hosting the No. 12 South Carolina Gamecocks softball team. Definitely not an easy outing for UK.
Missouri will get a chance to host the 4th ranked Florida Gators. Florida isn’t a joke and shouldn’t be a team that the Tigers can take lightly. Right now, Florida has a two game advantage over Georgia for the lead in the SEC standings. The Gators have only lost 4 SEC games all season. Mizzou is on a bit of a winning streak, but that’ll probably come to an end this weekend.
The Mississippi State softball team will be facing the Tennessee Lady Vols. Right now, the Lady Vols are the 8th ranked team in the country. Kentucky got a win against them last weekend, but it won’t necessarily be easy for MSU to do the same.
And finally, Ole Miss is welcoming the 6th ranked Georgia Bulldogs to town. UGA is a major player nationally, much like their rival Florida. They are currently the only team to be able to take a SEC series away from the Florida Gators.
So, can Mississippi State softball make the SEC Tournament?
Yes, the Bulldogs can, but it won’t be a fun weekend to wait through and find out their fate. This race is probably a lot closer than MSU wants it to be. And, if I had to bet, the Mississippi State softball team never wanted to deal with these sort of stakes.
The Bulldogs have been solid throughout the year. But, it feels like what appears to be an annual SEC slump hit Mississippi State pretty hard this season. The Bulldogs have a talented roster featuring dynamic pitchers and pretty powerful hitters, yet they’re still on the edge of elimination regardless.
Still, the Bulldogs can, and should, make it into the SEC tournament next Wednesday. They’ll likely be the 12th seed given that Kentucky and Mizzou don’t have as many losses given that the Tigers and Wildcats haven’t played as many games, but MSU should still be able to get into the SEC tournament.
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Mississippi State has a chance at making it into the SEC tournament. A pretty good chance. Still, it’s frustrating to see the Bulldogs in this position. MSU is a good team and they’ll likely end up as a solid seed in the NCAA Tournament, but it’d be nice to see the Bulldogs win a few more games against Southeastern Conference opponents.