Sun Belt Conference softball tournament

[lcitsh]

Last week of the regular season begins today and ends Saturday. Coastal Carolina and Appalachian State are playing a doubleheader today and wrapping up tomorrow. Everyone else is scheduled to play one a day. Coastal has already eliminated App from the tournament by winning the first game, 7-1. Georgia State can knock out Southern Miss with one win. USM sweep eliminates Panthers.

Standings

Louisiana 19-2
South Alabama 17-4
Marshall 14-5
Troy 14-6-1
Texas State 11-8-1
James Madison 12-9
Coastal Carolina 9-12
ULM 7-14
Georgia Southern 6-15
Georgia State 6-15
Southern Mississippi 4-15
Appalachian State 3-16

News from the Sun Belt site: https://sunbeltsports.org/news/2023/...s-may-4-6.aspx

Something in particular: REGULAR SEASON WRAP-UP: The 2023 Sun Belt Conference Tournament will take place May 10-13, 2023 at Yvette Girouard Field at Lamson Park in Lafayette, La. The top 10 teams at the conclusion of the regular season will advance to the Sun Belt Softball Championship. The No. 1 and No. 2 seeds will be determined based on overall conference win percentage within their division. Seeds 3-10 will be determined based on overall conference win percentage regardless of division. The bracket will be released after the conclusion of the regular season on Saturday, May 6.

More to come later.

[RaginScotsman]

That app state game 3 was just a killer and a head scratcher.

[lcitsh]

Thursday May 4
Coastal Carolina 7, Appalachian State 1
Coastal Carolina 4, Appalachian State 3 (9)
Marshall 4, Georgia Southern 0
Southern Mississippi 4, Georgia State 1
Texas State 2, James Madison 0
Louisiana 5, ULM 1
South Alabama 6, Troy 1

Standings

Louisiana 20-2
South Alabama 18-4
Marshall 15-5
Troy 14-7-1
Texas State 12-8-1
James Madison 12-10
Coastal Carolina 11-12
ULM 7-15
Georgia Southern 6-16
Georgia State 6-16
Southern Mississippi 5-15
Appalachian State 3-18

USM lives to fight another day. It's likely to be feast or famine for the Golden Eagles. They can jump from 11th to as high as 8th with the sweep.

Too much can happen with ULM and the Georgias.

Coastal has locked in the 7th seed, James Madison has 6th locked, they can finish 5th if they take the last two from Texas State. Texas State can finish 4th-6th. Troy will be 4th or 5th. South Alabama has locked 3rd, Marshall 2nd, Cajuns 1st.

[ragin50]

Thursday May 4
Coastal Carolina 7, Appalachian State 1
Coastal Carolina 4, Appalachian State 3 (9)
Marshall 4, Georgia Southern 0
Southern Mississippi 4, Georgia State 1
Texas State 2, James Madison 0
Louisiana 5, ULM 1
South Alabama 6, Troy 1

Standings

Louisiana 20-2
South Alabama 18-4
Marshall 15-5
Troy 14-7-1
Texas State 12-8-1
James Madison 12-10
Coastal Carolina 11-12
ULM 7-15
Georgia Southern 6-16
Georgia State 6-16
Southern Mississippi 5-15
Appalachian State 3-18

USM lives to fight another day. It's likely to be feast or famine for the Golden Eagles. They can jump from 11th to as high as 8th with the sweep.

Too much can happen with ULM and the Georgias.

Coastal has locked in the 7th seed, James Madison has 6th locked, they can finish 5th if they take the last two from Texas State. Texas State can finish 4th-6th. Troy will be 4th or 5th. South Alabama has locked 3rd, Marshall 2nd, Cajuns 1st.

South Al getting screwed by the SBC.

[lcitsh]

Friday May 5
Appalachian State 7, Coastal Carolina 1
Marshall 7, Georgia Southern 2
Georgia State 6, Southern Mississippi 4
Texas State 8, James Madison 2
Louisiana 9, ULM 0 (5)
South Alabama vs. Troy - rained out; doubleheader tomorrow

Standings

Louisiana 21-2
South Alabama 18-4
Marshall 16-5
Troy 14-7-1
Texas State 13-8-1
James Madison 12-11
Coastal Carolina 11-13
ULM 7-16
Georgia State 7-16
Georgia Southern 6-17
Southern Mississippi 5-17
Appalachian State 4-18

The seeding for the tournament does come down to the last day. Some positions are set. Here we go:

1. Louisiana
2. Marshall
3. South Alabama
4. Troy/Texas State
5. Texas State/Troy
6. James Madison
7. Coastal Carolina
8. ULM/Georgia State
9. Georgia State/ULM/Georgia Southern
10. Georgia Southern/Georgia State/Southern Mississippi

I miscalculated. Southern Mississippi can slip in at #10 with a win and a Georgia Southern loss.

ULM owns the tiebreaks over the Georgias, the only way they seed #9 is if they lose and Georgia State wins tomorrow. Georgia Southern owns the tiebreak over Georgia State.

Troy and Texas State will be the 4 and 5 seeds, the order is dependent upon their records after the games tomorrow.

[lcitsh]

Saturday May 6
Marshall 8, Georgia Southern 1
Southern Mississippi 2, Georgia State 1
James Madison 3, Texas State 1
Louisiana 9, ULM 1 (5)
South Alabama 6, Troy 0
South Alabama 7, Troy 6 (8)

Final standings

Louisiana 22-2
South Alabama 20-4
Marshall 17-5
Troy 14-9-1
Texas State 13-9-1
James Madison 13-11
Coastal Carolina 11-13
ULM 7-17
Georgia State 7-17
Southern Mississippi 6-17
Georgia Southern 6-18
Appalachian State 4-18

Conference Tournament Central: https://sunbeltsports.org/sports/202...?path=softball

Seedings:
1. Louisiana
2. Marshall
3. South Alabama
4. Troy
5. Texas State
6. James Madison
7. Coastal Carolina
8. ULM
9. Georgia State
10. Southern Mississippi

Eliminated:
Georgia Southern
Appalachian State

Games start Wednesday.

[JMV JustMyView]

South Al getting screwed by the SBC.

How so? Marshall earned the No. 2 seed after finishing with the best record in the Sun Belt East Division.

[VObserver]

Notably, Every Western division school made the tournament

[GoneGolfin]

How so? Marshall earned the No. 2 seed after finishing with the best record in the Sun Belt East Division.

They earned the #2 seed according to the rules (as such I agree with your point). But they were quite fortunate w/respect to the Sun Belt schedule that was assigned them (missing Louisiana, South Alabama, and Troy). Would you not agree that they are likely no better than the fifth best team in the conference through regular season play?

Brian

[JMV JustMyView]

They earned the #2 seed according to the rules (as such I agree with your point). But they were quite fortunate w/respect to the Sun Belt schedule that was assigned them (missing Louisiana, South Alabama, and Troy). Would you not agree that they are likely no better than the fifth best team in the conference through regular season play?

Brian

I don't make the rules or schedule. I agree there SOS is weak and they are no better than the fifth best team in the conference. I would also like to meet them in the finals and run rule them in 3 innings to shut their fans up. If Marshall doesn't win the tournament they will not be in the field of 64.

[lcitsh]

How so? Marshall earned the No. 2 seed after finishing with the best record in the Sun Belt East Division.

I agree, South Alabama did not get slighted, they knew the setup, THEY AGREED TO IT! What I have a problem with, why did the conference and every athletic department keep this hidden from the public and the fan bases? It would have been easy to list the standings with East and West Divisions all season long. Why are we just finding this out one week before the conference tournament?

[CajunVic]

And why would you only seed 1 and 2 by division? That is a pretty odd way to do things.

[SlickRick]

And why would you only seed 1 and 2 by division? That is a pretty odd way to do things.

I've made this point on the belt forum after marshall fans were beating their chest about winning so many games. They didn't play the top 3 teams in the west. That's 9 games to "fix" their 40 win record. Only good west team they plated this season was tx state at Marshall and they lost the series 2-1.

[ragin50]

I agree, South Alabama did not get slighted, they knew the setup, THEY AGREED TO IT! What I have a problem with, why did the conference and every athletic department keep this hidden from the public and the fan bases? It would have been easy to list the standings with East and West Divisions all season long. Why are we just finding this out one week before the conference tournament?

How did they agree to it? Doesn't the conference make the rules? I didn't know they needed approval from the teams.

[JMV JustMyView]

How did they agree to it? Doesn't the conference make the rules? I didn't know they needed approval from the teams.

It is voted on.