Autzen Zoo: 2012 NCAA Softball Tournament Picks

The 2012 NCAA softball tournament begins on Thursday. Here are my picks of who will make it to Oklahoma City and become this season’s champion.

Regional Round –

Berkeley Regional
Pick: 1 California, the Bears are the best team in the country and will make the super regionals.
Sleeper Team: Arkansas, the Hogs play in the SEC so which means they won’t be intimidated

Seattle Regional
Pick: 16 Washington, I don’t see much resistance for the Huskies in their home regional so they move on.
Sleeper Team: Texas Tech, playing in the Big XII will help so I put the sleeper tag on the Red Raiders.

Columbia Regional
Pick: 9 Missouri, again the home team should have easy sledding getting out of their own regional.
Sleeper Team: DePaul, I know what you’re thinking … really? The Blue Demons have made the WCWS recently so watch out.

College Station Regional
Pick: Texas State, I’ve seen the Bobcats as a trendy pick to make it out of this regional. Having seen Texas State last year I’ll join the bandwagon to do so.
Sleeper Team: LSU, Having picked an upset in this regional you must be a little surprised seeing me pick the other half of this first round match-up.

Gainesville Regional
Pick: 5 Florida, I guess it’s time to advance an SEC into the super regionals and the Gators are one of the best teams nationally.
Sleeper Team: South Florida, I wouldn’t be surprised if Central Florida raised some noise here also.

Los Angeles Regional
Pick: Florida State, yes I’m going against the 12 seed UCLA at home but the Seminoles will escape from LA.
Sleeper Team: San Diego State, the record is 30-22 but playing out west your tested which I’m banking on.

Tucson Regional
Pick: 13 Arizona, it was tempting not to pick Notre Dame in this regional but ‘Zona is tradionally tough at home.
Sleeper Team: Notre Dame, I know Hawai’i has the best record of the four teams but the Irish are just as solid.

Norman Regional
Pick: 4 Oklahoma, I’d love to pick Tulsa to come out of these regional but OU is just too strong in my opinion.
Sleeper Team: Tulsa, I just mentioned the Golden Hurricanes which makes them perfect as a sleeper candidate.

Tempe Regional
Pick: 3 Arizona State, yes another Pac12 team making my SR but the Sun Devils have little competition and a great team.
Sleeper Team: Long Beach State, again west coast teams catch my attention in this sport due to how historically they’ve done.

Lafayette Regional
Pick: 14 Louisiana-Lafayette, I admit I don’t know much about this team but they are playing at home, have only lost four times on the year which is good for me.
Sleeper Team: Stanford, of the eight teams from the Pac12 six of them got home regionals which I think puts a chip on the Cardinal’s shoulder.

Eugene Regional
Pick: 11 Oregon, the Ducks are good at home plus I think the NCAA helped them out here none-the-less they move on.
Sleeper Team: BYU, while Mississippi State isn’t a bad pick the Cougars have been solid this season so I saw keep them in mind.

Austin Regional
Pick: 6 Texas, the Longhorns at McComb Field are tough in addition they lost in this round last season so that should motivate them as well.
Sleeper Team: Houston, last season the Cougars lost in the SR at Oklahoma State after coming out of this regional.

Knoxville Regional
Pick: 7 Tennessee, every year the Vols make a deep run so picking them is easy to do.
Sleeper Team: Virginia Tech, this ACC team is perennially one of the best in their league and could do big things in this regional.

Athens Regional
Pick: 10 Georgia, I’ll take the Bulldogs at home because they play in one of the best conferences in addition to being at home.
Sleeper Team: North Carolina, see what I wrote about VT in the previous regional.

Louisville Regional
Pick: 15 Louisville, the Cardinals have torn through everything this season and they should do so this weekend also.
Sleeper Team: Michigan, the Wolverines are yearly the best team in the Big Ten and won’t be star struck.

Tuscaloosa Regional
Pick: 2 Alabama, the Crimson Tide won the SEC plus are around every single year and this season is no exception.
Sleeper Team: Georgia Tech, I watched the Yellow Jackets last weekend on TV and that was enough to pick them as a sleeper here.