With a nation-leading nine teams represented in both the USA Today/NFCA Coaches Poll and the ESPN.com/USA Softball Poll, the SEC looks to be a gauntlet from top to bottom this season.
None of the SEC’s 13 teams are ranked lower than No. 54 in RPI. Eight SEC teams are in RPI’s top 30, with four in the top 15. So far this season, LSU leads the pack at No. 5.
The Tigers also currently sit atop the conference standings with a 20-1 non-conference record. However, this early lead means little until the conference’s teams’ step onto the field and go to battle against each other.
When LSU travels to face off against South Carolina in its opening series of conference play on March 11, it will be the beginning of an effort to do something the program hasn’t done in quite a while: win the SEC, one of college softball’s toughest conferences.
The Tigers haven’t secured a regular season SEC championship since 2004 and haven’t been SEC Tournament champions since 2007. For all her success in her 11 years at the helm, head coach Beth Torina has earned only one division championship and has made it past the second round of the conference tournament just twice.
The challenge ahead of LSU is a daunting one, and breaking those streaks would be difficult despite an encouraging start to the season. The Tigers currently sit atop the conference standings with a 20-1 non-conference record, although they haven’t quite been tested like some of the other teams in the conference.
The only nationally ranked team LSU has faced is Oregon State during the season’s opening weekend, but the Beavers have since dropped out of the rankings entirely and are currently ranked No. 117 in RPI. Only nine of LSU’s 21 games have been against opponents in the RPI top 40, including No. 17 Louisiana-Lafayette, the only team to beat the Tigers this season.
This is likely to blame for LSU’s current national rank of No. 14 in the polls despite being one of only six one-loss teams in the nation.
The upper class of the SEC is still unsettled, as many teams have come out strong to start the season like the Tigers. Before the season in January, the SEC’s coaches were split on who they thought would win the conference. Tennessee garnered three first-place votes, while Florida and Arkansas earned five each.
All three teams have lived up to those predictions so far. Tennessee stands with LSU as another one of the nation’s remaining one-loss teams and is currently ranked No. 5 in the USA Softball poll and No. 7 in the NFCA poll.
The Volunteers have shut out their opponent in all but five of their 17 games while scoring the most runs per game in the country at 9.33. They have two ranked wins, one over then-top 10 Northwestern and another over current No. 4 Clemson.
Florida and Arkansas have been similarly successful. Florida sits at 15-3 with its only losses to current No. 2 UCLA, nationally ranked Oregon, and Cal State Fullerton, who is receiving votes in the national polls. All but one of the Gators’ wins have been by three or more runs. Arkansas is 19-4, though the Razorbacks are 3-3 against teams currently ranked nationally.
Alabama, ranked No. 9 in the USA Softball poll and No. 13 in the NFCA poll, also is in the mix for the best team in the conference at 19-3. The Crimson Tide own one of the most impressive wins of any SEC team, with their February victory over top-10 Florida State.
The hardest part of evaluating the SEC’s hierarchy is the lack of any obvious cellar-dweller. Every team in the conference has a winning record. Kentucky, the SEC team with the third-worst winning percentage so far, has a win over No. 10 Washington to its name and a tie with top-10 Texas, while Texas A&M, with the second-worst winning percentage, has two ranked wins.
With as unclear as the SEC picture is, LSU will be tested in every game. The Tigers have an experienced and talented roster, but in a conference full of them, only time will tell if LSU has enough to come out on top.
