Greg Hansen: Pac-12's protests overshadow fact that SEC is softball's power conference

The NCAA softball selection committee has 10 members from sea to shining sea, including representatives from such not-so-shiny softball precincts as Longwood, Troy, North Dakota State and Stony Brook.

Yes, Longwood University. It’s in Farmville, Virginia.

The committee also includes Arizona senior associate athletic director Erika Hanson Barnes, who knows college softball from the highest view possible. Barnes started 22 games for Arizona’s epic 65-4 NCAA championship team of 2001. Jennie Finch, anyone?

All votes carry equal weight. Barnes’ historical perspective of the Women’s College World Series counted no more than, say, the rep from Stony Brook, whose team played against Maine, UMBC and UMass in the America East Conference.

It’s not an exacting process.

UA coach Mike Candrea reacted indignantly when the selection committee seemed to botch the brackets by placing national title contender Washington as the 16th overall seed and sending 14th-ranked Oregon to Texas to be matched against former Ducks coach Mike White in a bit of made-for-ESPN drama.

“How can Washington be a 16 seed? That hurts,’’ Candrea said. “And then to send Oregon to Texas? Come on.”

But it was more than Washington being bumped into a dead-end bracket that would send it to No. 1 overall seed Oklahoma in the Super Regionals. It was also that 12 of the 13 SEC softball teams made the field, including Georgia and Auburn, both of which finished 7-17 in league play; and Mississippi State and Texas A&M, both of which finished 8-16.

Tournament worthy? It seems like a stretch. I mean a S-T-R-E-T-C-H.

UCLA’s Kelly Inouye-Perez, coach of the Pac-12 champs, matched Candrea’s candor when she said: “In all the years of being a part of this, to have the Pac-12 disrespected to this level, I’m shocked.”

Washington coach Heather Tarr, whose unexpectedly snubbed team walked out of the ESPN Selection Sunday show, said the feedback she received from the NCAA was that “the reason for our unexpected low seed was because our wins were against teams with too low of an RPI.”

RPI. It should stand for Reasons People (get) Irritated. It’s May Madness.

Or is it?

The more you research the metrics and analytics of college softball, the more it gives the selection committee members from Stony Brook and North Dakota State credence. It shows how the SEC has not only caught Pac-12 softball, but taken command.

Consider:

In the 1990s, the Pac-12 had 24 berths in the Women’s College World Series. The SEC: 1.

In the 2000s, the Pac-12 had 35 berths in the WCWS. The SEC: 15.

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In the 2010s, the Pac-12 had 25 berths. The SEC: 28.

More telling is the Pac-12’s drop in national championships. It won 17 of 20 possible titles from 1990-2009. Since then? Three.

It’s hard to imagine any game in college sports changing as much as softball over the last 25 years. It was a West Coast-centric game in the ‘90s, as Fresno State, Long Beach State, Cal State Fullerton, UNLV and Cal State Northridge went to a combined 16 Women’s College World Series.

Those schools no longer have a chance against the talent-rich, money-fueled SEC and Big 12 powers, those with first access to the abundant softball recruiting fields of Florida, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Texas, Alabama, Georgia and Tennessee.

Candrea’s Wildcats went to all 10 World Series in the ‘90s. UCLA went to nine. But in the last decade, Florida and Oklahoma have replaced Arizona and UCLA as the game’s two ranking powers — the equivalent of Alabama and Clemson in college football.

The Gators and Sooners combined to play in 16 World Series the last decade. Arizona and UCLA? Nine.

So long as the Pac-12 includes feeders Cal, Utah and Oregon State, the league cannot match the SEC’s strength of schedule. Not even close.

Upon further inspection, Washington has no one to blame but itself for being the 16th overall seed, which is unfortunate because Huskies pitcher Gabbie Plain appears to rank with UCLA’s Rachel Garcia and Alabama’s Montana Fouts as the game’s best.

Plain is 29-2 with a 1.19 ERA, but the Huskies unaccountably stocked their nonconference schedule with zero opponents from Power 5 conferences and zero Top 25 teams. Washington instead played all 19 nonconference games against Big Sky, Mountain West and WAC opponents.

You can’t do that and fool any selection committee anywhere, from softball to lacrosse to beach volleyball.

The NCAA softball playoffs are a home-team-takes-all event like few in college sports. As good as Gabbie Plain is — a once-in-a-generation-type pitcher — the Huskies would appear to have two chances in next week’s Super Regional at No. 1 Oklahoma: Slim and none.

The same applies to Arizona. If the Wildcats can bump off Ole Miss this weekend at Hillenbrand Stadium, they are bracketed to visit No. 6 Arkansas in the Super Regional. The Razorbacks this week announced they expect capacity crowds of 3,500 at Bogle Park.

But that’s a story for another day. For now, Ole Miss won’t be intimidated by sellout crowds at Hillenbrand or by an Arizona batting order stocked with All-Americans. In SEC softball, that’s just another day at the ballpark.