Here is who I think has the toughest regional and path to the WCWS out of the top 16 seeds.
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At first glance at the bracket, a lot of people will automatically think Alabama drew an unlucky draw as the No. 1 seed with one of the best pitchers in the country in their regional in Maya Johnson. But I still don’t think it is THE toughest one.
UCLA certainly has a tough one with South Carolina and Jori Heard in their regional, a rematch of last year’s highly contested and thrilling supers. Plus, the Bruins then would have to take down Florida State, if higher seeds remain, to advance to OKC. I almost picked the Bruins here.
But I am going with Oregon as the top 16 seed with the toughest path to OKC.
The Ducks have Mississippi State in their regional, and that means a matchup with two of the best pitchers in the country, Peja Goold and Alyssa Faircloth. I’m not even sure Faircloth gets enough credit for how impressive she has been this season — she has incredible movement on her pitches with over 230 strikeouts. We could see a low-scoring battle between Oregon and Mississippi State.
But even if they get through Mississippi State and advance to supers, they would matchup against Oklahoma, who got the No. 3 overall seed. The Sooners have been perceived as the top team in the country by many and have what has been an absolutely historic offense this season.
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This is an offense too that learns and adjusts quickly, so facing this lineup more than once is not an easy thing to do.
So that right there is who I think has the toughest path to OKC.
