The Oklahoma Sooners proved to be the best team in the toughest conference in America, but still apparently not enough to be considered the best squad in college softball.
The Sooners on Sunday were announced as the No. 2 overall seed in the NCAA Softball Championship behind the Texas A&M Aggies, who finished behind OU in regular-season SEC standings and were named co-champions of the SEC Softball Tournament alongside the Sooners.
Texas A&M gets top overall seed over Oklahoma
It was a debacle from the SEC and commissioner Greg Sankey that ultimately led to the NCAA's botch. The final of the SEC Softball Tournament on Saturday was canceled because of weather within two hours, rather than trying to play the title game later Saturday or earlier Sunday before NCAA selections were announced. In the end, OU and Texas A&M were deemed co-champs.
A win over the Aggies would had clinched the top overall seed for the four-time defending national champions Sooners. With no game actually played, though, OU still earned the SEC's automatic bid since the Sooners won the regular-season crown in their first season in the conference.
That means in the eyes of the NCAA, OU was the best team to come from the SEC. But apparently the selection committee was blind, because it gave the top overall seed to a team that finished behind the Sooners in every way in the SEC. The committee instead favored the Aggies' No. 1 ranking in the RPI and tougher nonconference schedule despite the Sooners proving to be better every other way.
Unfortunately, the Sooners didn't get a head-to-head chance against the Aggies on Saturday or during the season to hush all arguments, but they could eventually at the Women's College World Series, and by then, none of this will matter. It's simply just another sign of disrespect toward Patty Gasso's dynasty.
The Sooners still get to host the Norman Regional as a 1-seed and won't have to leave the state of Oklahoma the rest of the postseason even if they make a ninth straight trip to the Women's College World Series at Devon Park in Oklahoma City.
Joining OU at the Norman Regional will be No. 2 California, No. 3 Omaha and No. 4 Boston. The regional will start on Friday at Love's Field.
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