Texas softball enters this week’s final SEC series against Arkansas with only the faintest of hopes for a regular-season conference title.
And the No. 7 Longhorns (38-8, 15-6 SEC) seem all but assured of a coveted top-eight seed in next month’s NCAA Tournament, which comes with the right to host the first two rounds.
But there’s still plenty at stake for Texas, especially since Arkansas and the Longhorns top the NCAA’s current RPI power ranking. Texas coach Mike White wants to finish the regular season strong against a stout foe while earning a top-four seed at next week’s SEC Tournament, and he wants to give the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee a late reminder about his team’s potency.
“You’d like to say it's out of your control, but it's somewhat in your control,” he said, referring to the committee members. “But you don't really know what they're going to discuss once they get into the room and how big a factor RPI is going to play. Sometimes, you’ve got to have that eye test there as well. So really, we’ve just got to play our best and finish strong and not worry about that and be happy.
“Obviously, we would love to be top eight. I'd like to think we got a lock, but that's far from being true. We've got to finish strong. We’ve got to win this series, and hopefully if we do that, we'll be able to get into the top four of the SEC Tournament. And that's really what we're shooting for at this point.”
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A top-four finish in the final regular-season standings means a double-bye in next week’s SEC Tournament in Lexington, Ky. Top-ranked Oklahoma (18-3 SEC) has a two-game lead in the race for the regular-season conference title and needs to win just one game in a three-game series against Texas A&M (15-6) to ensure a top-four seed and at least a share of the league championship.
But the tussle for the other three double-byes looks tight. Florida (16-5) and Alabama (16-5) are tied for second in the SEC. Texas is tied for fourth with Texas A&M but holds the tiebreaker edge over the Aggies since the Longhorns won the season series. Tennessee (14-7) and Arkansas still have a chance at a top-four seed, if the Razorbacks win the series against the Longhorns.
Florida faces eighth-place Georgia this weekend in a three-game series while Alabama plays 12th-place South Carolina. Tennessee matches up with 11th-place Missouri.
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But a series win over Arkansas this weekend would simplify the postseason picture for Texas. It would clinch one of the top four seeds at the SEC Tournament and all but lock down Texas as a top-eight seed in the NCAA Tournament.
Wins over the scrappy Hogs won’t come easy, however. Even though star outfielder Dakota Kennedy will likely miss her third straight series with a knee injury, Arkansas remains one of the most balanced lineups in the league. The Razorbacks rank third in the SEC in batting (.355 team average), on-base percentage (.456) and total runs (385) despite not having a single player ranked in the top 20 in the SEC in hitting.
“They don't have those superstar numbers, per se, (but) they've got a spread of hitters with a spread of RBIs and a lot of walks,” White said. “They're really kind of a team approach.”
The Razorbacks also got a proven pitching tandem in right-hander Payton Burnham (11-3, 1.88 ERA) and lefty Robyn Herron (14-4, 1.99 ERA), who are each one of the 10 SEC starting pitchers with an ERA less than 2.00. In comparison, Citlaly Gutierrez has the Longhorns’ lowest ERA at 2.35 and ace Teagan Kavan has a 2.92 ERA.
Facing Burnham and Herron will challenge the Longhorn hitters this series, but it will also help prep them for tournament play, White said.
“We're going to get to see a pretty good possibility of what might happen in the postseason,” he said. “Usually, these teams that are ranked below 32-33 through 60-64, have at least one good pitcher. Now, the best teams have two or three, like Arkansas and ourselves.”
Schedule: Game 1 at 7 p.m. Thursday; Game 2 at 2 p.m. Friday; Game 3 at noon Saturday
TV/radio: Game 1 SEC Network; Game 2 and 3 SEC Network+; texaslonghorns.com