Pac-10 losing monopoly on college softball: good for the sport?

May 31, 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 one of them still maintains 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, Washington's opponent in today's semifinals, is from the SEC. Perennial powerhouse Arizona, that of the nation-leading 134 home runs this season, went two-and-out and was outscored 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 last night. "It's not just a West Coast sport any longer." And while that might not sit well with the Pac-10-which, let's not forget, has still won seven out of the last eight national championships, including Arizona State's title last year-this year's attendance marks seem to suggest that it's 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. And the average attendance record will likely also fall. 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 (cq), after his team's 14-0 loss to Alabama last night. "But sometimes, it can be difficult on young people to deal with situations like this." Situations in which the Pac-10 doesn't tend to find itself at this venue. Reach sports editor Christian Caple at sports@dailyuw.com.

Stay up to Date

Subscribe to our weekly newsletters covering the news, arts, and sports.

Pac-10 losing monopoly on college softball: good for the sport?

Disruptor interrupts Psych 210, professor and students chase man on to Red Square

2025 Seattle and King County primary election endorsements

UW mechanical engineering students are now required to pay $250 quarterly fee to participate in department-affiliated RSOs

College Inn Pub reopens under new ownership