Is the Pac-10 losing its monopoly on college softball?

Jun 2, 2009, 12:00 AM

OKLAHOMA CITY - Maybe it's fitting that the Pac-10, one of the only major softball conferences that doesn't have a conference tournament, routinely dominates the Women's College World Series. After all, when half your league makes it to the big dance every year, you don't really need your own tournament to determine the best team. That can be done in Oklahoma City. But while the Pac-10 still qualified four teams for the World Series this season, and two of them still maintain serious title aspirations after the first three days, the sport as a whole may be seeing a shift in the balance of power. The No. 1 ranked team in the tournament, Florida, is from the SEC. Georgia, which the UW had trouble fending off Sunday, is from the SEC. Perennial powerhouse Arizona, that of the nation-leading 134 home runs this season, went two-and-out and was out-scored 17-0 in one of its shortest WCWS stays in school history. Parity? In college softball? Not quite. But we're getting there. "I think softball is getting better and better all across the U.S.," said Georgia head coach Lu Harris-Champer after her team beat Michigan Saturday. "It's not just a West Coast sport any longer." But you have to beat the best to be the best, some say. "I have said that until someone beats [the Pac-10], [it is] still the best conference," said Alabama head coach Patrick Murphy Saturday. "I was telling our freshmen, you don't say anything until you do something. One of us needs to do it, and whether it is us, Florida or Georgia, we need to do it. And if we don't, we need to shut up until we do." Whether that gets done remains to be seen, and the championship series match-up seems to be ideal in determining which league is king: Washington (Pac-10) against Florida (SEC). But even if the Pac-10 - which, let's not forget, has still won seven of the last eight championships, while the SEC is looking for its first - doesn't own the trophy this year, the tournament's attendance marks seem to suggest that this shift in power has been good for the sport. Friday's night session broke a WCWS single-session attendance mark with 8,323 people, but that new record only stood for 24 hours; Saturday's night session brought in 8,475. The average attendance record will also likely be broken. It stands at 7,304 through the first five sessions this year, more than 1,000 better per session than the record of 6,648 that was set last season. More people have the chance to watch from their living rooms, too. Washington was a notable casualty of the NCAA's new rule requiring regional and super regional host institutions to have lights at their stadiums. But it was all for TV purposes, since ESPN wanted to have the option to broadcast any of the games in those two rounds. Every game of the WCWS is televised. It's definitely been noticeable. "The sport has grown so much, it's tremendous that we have the coverage that we do," said Arizona head coach Mike Candrea, after his team's 0-14 loss to Alabama Saturday. "But sometimes, it can be difficult on young people to deal with situations like this." Reach sports editor Christian Caple at sports@dailyuw.com.

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