The regular season is over, and that means that the 2019 SEC Softball Tournament is upon us! The action will start up on Wednesday before it wraps up on Friday night in College Station, Texas. And some fun is sure to be had as always, as this event rarely doesn’t bring the goods. If you’re someone who hasn’t followed up with the SEC softball season to this point, now might be the best time for you to jump on and catch up on all the fun that’s about to go down. BRACKET TV SCHEDULE (All times ET) WEDNESDAY, MAY 8 Game 1 — (12) Mississippi State vs. (13) Texas A&M 10 a.m., SEC Network Game 2 — (6) Florida vs. (11) South Carolina 12:30 p.m., SEC Network Game 3 — (7) Missouri vs. (10) Auburn 3 p.m., SEC Network Game 4 — (8) Georgia vs. (9) Arkansas 5:30 p.m., SEC Network Game 5 — (5) Ole Miss vs. Game 1 Winner 8 p.m., SEC Network THURSDAY, MAY 9 Game 6 — (3) LSU vs. Game 2 Winner 11 a.m., SEC Network Game 7 — (2) Tennessee vs. Game 3 Winner 1:30 p.m., SEC Network Game 8 — (1) Alabama vs. Game 4 Winner 4 p.m., SEC Network Game 9 — (4) Kentucky vs. Game 5 Winner 6:30 p.m., SEC Network FRIDAY, MAY 10 Game 10 — Semifinal 1 3:30 p.m., ESPN2 Game 11 — Semifinal 2 6 p.m., ESPN2 SATURDAY, MAY 11 Game 12 — Championship Game 7 p.m., ESPN2<doc-sep>Be sure to keep posted with all the day’s action today! GEORGIA 4, ARKANSAS 1 The Georgia Bulldogs picked up a win to start the day in College Station. The Dawgs defeated the Arkansas Razorbacks 4-1 and advanced through to the next round of the SEC Softball Tournament. Lacey Fincher, Alysen Febrey and Savana Sikes collected RBI in the victory. It was Sikes who got things started as she scored Fincher on an RBI single up the middle in the 2nd inning. The game was promptly tied in the next stanza after Arkansas’ Ashley Diaz smoked a home run to center field. But the Dawgs weren’t done. The aforementioned Febrey hit a single that eventually led to star Alyssa DiCarlo scoring. Febrey would later score on a sac fly by the aforementioned Febrey. The other run came across in the 6th inning. Amanda Kelley went through to home on a fielder’s choice, in which Tyler Armistead was tagged out at second afterwards. Kylie Bass was formidable in the circle. Bass allowed the homer to Diaz, but was otherwise stout. She pitched a complete game, allowed just two hits, struck out seven batters and issued merely two walks. She induced seven groundouts as well and tossed 92 pitches in the win. Georgia will face off with top-seeded Alabama tonight at 9 p.m. ET. OLE MISS 9, MISSISSIPPI STATE 4 Trailing 3-1 going into the bottom of the 4th inning, Ole Miss needed to respond to Mississippi State’s outburst in the 3rd inning. Well... they did that and then some. The Rebels put up a seven spot — yes, a SEVEN SPOT — in the bottom stanza in the 4th inning to overtake the lead and the game. The biggest blow was dealt by was by Abbey Latham, who smacked a grand slam to left off the dang scoreboard that put the Rebels in front. It was a lead they wouldn’t relinquish, as they’d go on to win 9-4. Latham’s blast was the end result of a horrific inning for State. Walks and fielder’s choices allowed for Ole Miss to keep the bases loaded with no outs. It all bubbled up and eventually led to Latham’s bomb, a sequence that will certainly haunt State for some time. The Rebels would tack on another run int he bottom of the 6th after a sacrifice groundout by Kaylee Horton, which scored Autumn Gillespie. While Mississippi State put up a run on an RBI single by Candace Denis, it was just too much for them to overcome by game’s end. Ole Miss now goes on to face off with 4th-seeded Kentucky on Friday. FLORIDA 3, LSU 0 Florida’s stint in the SEC Softball Tournament just keeps on going. Kelly Barnhill tossed a CGSHO en route to the Gators’ 3-0 victory over the LSU Tigers. Barnhill needed 102 pitches to put the Tigers down, but still kept them in check and off the scoreboard. She tossed seven strikeouts and just one walk, with no extra base hits allowed among the one hit that she omitted in Thursday afternoon’s contest. The three runs for the Gators came early on in the game. In the 1st inning, Jordan Roberts clubbed a single that brought Amanda Lorenz in to score. Then in the top of the 2nd, Lorenz stepped up with the bases loaded and singled to bring Sophia Reynoso home with the Gators’ second run. Later, Kendyl Lindaman reached base on a fielder’s choice, allowing for Hannah Sipos to chug on in and score. While Shelbi Sunseri allowed no damage the rest of the way, her offense couldn’t figure out how to handle the ace in Barnhill. Florida will now advance to the semifinal round, where they’ll play the winner of Auburn-Tennessee, which is currently in action. AUBURN 2, TENNESSEE 0 We’ve got ourselves another upset! The 10-seeded Auburn Tigers have taken down the mighty 2-seeded Tennessee Volunteers. The Tigers defeated the Vols 2-0 on Thursday to earn a trip to Friday’s semifinals, where they’ll face the 6-seeded Florida Gators. Auburn took the Vols down thanks to deft pitching and two RBI singles. Justus Perry and Casey McCrackin collected those RBI singles in the 2nd and 5th innings of action, scoring Kendall Veach and Carmyn Greenwood in the process. Perry was one of two Tigers to rack up two hits on the day along with Alyssa Rivera, who went 2-for-2 with a walk. Ashlee Swindle was terrific on the night. She pitched a CGSHO, allowed five hits, struck out four and walked two. She needed 89 pitches to take down the Vols, and induced 11 groundouts and allowed just two XBH. The status of one Taylon Snow may be up in the air now going forward. Snow injured her shoulder on a play during the game and was taken out of the game. Nathan King reported that she was seen in a sling. ALABAMA 2, GEORGIA 1 They needed theatrics, but the Alabama Crimson Tide survived a scare on Thursday night. Skylar Wallace crushed a walk-off bomb in the 8th inning to lift the Tide over the feisty Georgia Bulldogs. The 8th-seeded Dawgs pushed the game into extras with mighty top-seeded ‘Bama, but in the end, the top dogs were, in fact, the ones with the elephant mascot. Wallace was responsible for both of the Tide’s runs on Thursday night. She drew a bases loaded walk that knotted things up back in the 4th inning after Alabama fell behind in the previous stanza. Georgia got on the board thanks to a double by Alysen Febrey, who brought home Alyssa DiCarlo. The pitching in this game was sensational, as you’d expect. Montana Fouts went the distance, going all eight innings, as she struck out nine batters and issued three free passes. She allowed two walks but was otherwise strong, giving up 13 groundouts and allowed four hits. On the opposite side, Mary Wilson Avant, Alley Cutting and Kylie Bass combined to allow just six hits from the sotut ‘Bama offense. They combined for four strikeouts but issued seven walks, four from Avant and three from Cutting.<doc-sep>With the most competitive league in the nation, the Southeastern Conference will have ten ranked teams participating in the Tournament held this week May 8-11 in College Station. If you are anywhere near a casino, don’t bet on these games. They could all go any which way. 4. Alabama 50-6 9. Florida 40-15 10. LSU 40-15 11. Tennessee 39-13 13. Georgia 39-16 17. Ole Miss 36-16 19. Arkansas 38-17 20. South Carolina 36-16 23. Kentucky 32-21 24. Auburn 35-18 NR Missouri 32-22 NR Mississippi State 32-20 NR Texas A&M 28-24 (Vanderbilt does not field a softball team so they can win bowling championships against schools you’ve never heard of.) DAY 1 SCHEDULE Mississippi State and host team Texas A&M kick it off Wednesday morning for the rights to move on to a game later in the evening against 5-seed Ole Miss. Arkansas versus Georgia should be the best game of the day. Both teams are coming off a home sweeps of ranked SEC foes. The winner gets to face the No. 1 seeded Crimson Tide. 12 Mississippi St 3 , 13 Texas A&M 2 - The host team is the first eliminated. , 13 - The host team is the first eliminated. 11 South Carolina vs 6 Florida 12:30 CT - Tornado delays. That is SO Texas. vs 6 12:30 CT - Tornado delays. That is SO Texas. 10 Auburn vs 7 Missouri 3:00 CT SEC vs 7 3:00 CT SEC 9 Arkansas vs 8 Georgia 5:30 CT SEC vs 8 5:30 CT SEC 5 Ole Miss vs MSU 8:00 CT DAY 2 SCHEDULE Alabama, Tennessee, LSU, and Kentucky are your top four seeds. They all were rewarded with Day 1 byes and will not begin play until Thursday. 3 LSU vs SC -Florida winner 11:00 am CT vs winner 2 Tennessee vs Auburn- Mizz winner 1:30 CT Thurs vs winner Thurs 1 Alabama vs UGA- Ark winner 4:00 CT 8:28pm CT Thurs vs winner 8:28pm CT Thurs 4 Kentucky vs OM- MSU winner 6:30 CT will play Friday All games will be televised on SEC Network. The semifinals and final will be aired on ESPN2. Check SEC Network+ later in the week for online airings in your area. All Alabama games can be heard on Radio: 93.3 FM. UPDATED BRACKET Thanks to inclement weather, games have been pushed back. Alabama will now play UGA at 8pm CT.<doc-sep>Brittany Finney Ole Miss begins play in the SEC Tournament today in College Station, Texas, but the Rebels will have to wait until later to find out who their opponent will be. Ole Miss, after being swept at Georgia last weekend, enters the tourney as its No. 5 seed and will play the winner of this morning's contest between No. 12 seed Mississippi State and host and 13th-seeded Texas A&M. The tournament is single elimination. Weather Alert: Below is the schedule for the entire tournament, but weather might have a say today in terms of staying on schedule. There is a chance for rain in College Station all day long, peaking at around 2 p.m. CT this afternoon with about an 85 percent chance of precipitation. Texas A&M's new $28 million Davis Field, the site of the SEC Tournament. SEC SOFTBALL TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE College Station, Texas Today's Games Game 1: No. 12 Miss. State vs. No. 13 Texas A&M | 10 a.m. CT | SEC Network Game 2: | No. 6 Florida vs. No. 11 South Carolina | 12:30 p.m. CT | SEC Network Game 3: | No. 7 Missouri vs. No. 10 Auburn | 3 p.m. CT | SEC Network Game 4: No. 8 Georgia vs. No. 9 Arkansas | 5:30 p.m. CT | SEC Network Game 5: No. 5 Ole Miss vs. Game 1 Winner | 8 p.m. CT | SEC Network Thursday's Games Game 6: No. 3 LSU vs. Game 2 Winner | 11 a.m. CT | SEC Network Game 7: No. 2 Tennessee vs. Game 3 Winner | 1:30 p.m. CT | SEC Network Game 8: No. 1 Alabama vs. Game 4 Winner | 4 p.m. CT | SEC Network Game 9: No. 4 Kentucky vs. Game 5 Winner | 6:30 p.m. CT | SEC Network Friday's Games Game 10: Game 6 Winner vs. Game 7 Winner | 3:30 p.m. CT | ESPN2 Game 11: Game 8 Winner vs. Game 9 Winner | 6 p.m. CT | ESPN2 Saturday's Game Championship | 7 p.m. CT | ESPN2 SEC SOFTBALL FINAL STANDINGS Alabama | 18-6 | 50-6 Tennessee | 14-10 | 39-13 LSU | 14-10 | 40-15 Kentucky | 14-10 | 32-21 Ole Miss | 13-10 | 36-16 Florida | 12-12 | 40-15 Georgia | 12-12 | 39-16 Arkansas | 12-12 | 38-17 Missouri | 12-12 | 32-22 Auburn | 10-14 | 35-18 South Carolina | 9-14 | 36-16 Miss. State | 9-15 | 32-20 Texas A&M | 6-18 | 28-24 Beyond College Station Ole Miss came in at No. 17 in this week's NCAA Softball RPI rankings released on Monday. The RPI will be a major factor, though not definitive, when the NCAA selection committee announces tournament seedings on Sunday. Ole Miss head coach Mike Smith offered his thoughts on what the Rebels need to do in College Station to make one final impression upon the committee. The top 16 teams will host regionals. "I think we probably need to win at least two," he said. "I think we need to beat whoever wins that first game, and I think we need to beat Kentucky, which is who we'd play next. I think we'd have to win that one to maybe have a shot at hosting again. "I see the RPI and strength of schedules and all of those things, and I think our body of work and our team sheet is very good...I think winning every SEC series except for the last one should be a huge positive on our side. It just depends on what the committee is looking at. It's really hard to say. Is it objective or subjective? What are you going to go by? It's not just RPI and strength of schedule, it's who you've played, what you've done your last 10 games...there are a lot of factors that go into play there." Ole Miss has played 23 games against teams in the top 25 of the RPI, winning 12 of those contests. The Rebels have played 10 games against teams ranked from No.26-50 in the RPI, winning five of those. Impressively, the Rebels have zero losses against any teams not inside the top 50 of the RPI. Ole Miss Leader Board Offense Average: Kylan Becker (.417) | Abbey Latham (.338) | Tate Whitley (.307) Hits: Kylan Becker (70) | Abbey Latham (53) | Kaylee Horton (46) Doubles: Abbey Latham (11) | Brittany Finney (8) | Jessica Puk (7) Triples: Kylan Becker (7) | Autumn Gillespie (4) | Kaylee Horton (3) Home Runs: Jessica Puk (9) | Brittany Finney (8) | Abbey Latham (7) RBIs: Abbey Latham (44) | Jessica Puk (36) | Brittany Finney (33) Stolen Bases: Kylan Becker (28) | Kaylee Horton (19) | Abbey Latham (16) Pitching Molly Jacobsen | 13-6 | 1.76 ERA | 4 SV | 9 CG | 143.0 IP | 140 K Brittany Finney | 14-8 | 2.57 ERA | 1 SV | 9 CG | 122.1 IP | 107 K Ava Tillmann | 8-2 | 2.17 ERA | 0 SV | 2 CG | 67.2 IP | 41 K Savannah Diederich | 0-0 | 0.88 ERA | 0 SV | 0 CG | 8.0 IP | 16 K Anna Borgen | 1-0 | 1.75 ERA | 0 SV | 0 CG | 8.0 IP | 6 K LATEST NCAA SOFTBALL RPI 1. Oklahoma | 48-2 2. Washington | 42-7 3. UCLA | 45-3 4. Arizona | 40-11 5. Florida State | 48-8 6. Texas | 41-12 7. Alabama | 50-6 8. Minnesota | 39-11 9. LSU | 40-15 10. Florida | 40-15 11. Northwestern | 42-9 12. Oklahoma State | 37-14 13. Tennessee | 39-13 14. James Madison | 44-7 15. Kentucky | 32-21 16. Michigan | 40-11 17. Ole Miss | 36-16 18. Louisiana | 47-4 19. Texas Tech | 38-13 20. South Carolina | 36-16 21. Auburn | 35-18 22. Arkansas | 38-17 23. Drake | 40-14 24. Virginia Tech | 45-8 25. Georgia | 39-16 26. Tulsa | 35-17 27. Stanford | 32-15 28. Arizona State | 30-18 29. North Carolina | 33-17 30. Missouri | 32-22 31. South Florida | 39-17 32. Miss.<doc-sep>
UPDATE: Ole Miss and Mississippi State are scheduled to begin at 12:30 p.m. CT Thursday. UPDATED SEC TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE Wednesday Games Miss. State 3, Texas A&M 2 Florida 6, South Carolina 5 Auburn 3, Missouri 0 Thursday's Games Georgia vs. Arkansas | 10:00 a.m. CT | SEC Network Ole Miss vs. Miss. State | 12:30 p.m. CT | SEC Network Florida vs. LSU | 3 p.m. CT | SEC Network Auburn vs. Tennessee | 5:30 p.m. CT | SEC Network Georgia/Arkansas vs. Alabama | 8 p.m. CT | SEC Network Friday's Games Ole Miss/Miss. State vs. Kentucky | 10 a.m. CT | SEC Network LSU/Florida vs. Tennessee/Auburn | 3:30 p.m. CT | ESPN2 Alabama/Georgia/Arkansas vs. Ole Miss/Miss. State/Kentucky | 6 p.m. CT | ESPN2 Saturday's Game Championship | 7 p.m. CT | ESPN2 As widespread rain wreaks havoc across the South, the schedule of first day of the SEC Softball Tournament in College Station, Texas, has been altered. Ole Miss (36-16, 13-10 SEC) has had its first-round game against Mississippi State (33-20, 9-15 SEC), which was originally scheduled to be played at 8 p.m. CT Wednesday, moved to Thursday. As of this writing, play had resumed in College Station with games between Florida and South Carolina, Missouri and Auburn and Arkansas and Georgia still to be played Wednesday night. No start time has yet to be announced by the SEC for Thursday's Ole Miss/Mississippi State game. That's due in large part to the fact weather remains a threat to push other games scheduled to be played Wednesday night into Thursday. Wednesday's action in College Station was suspended for approximately five hours as heavy rains, thunderstorms and even a reported tornado impacted the area. The weather in College Station is a little more promising on Thursday morning with forecasts calling for only a 30 percent chance of rain and isolated thunderstorms. The chances for rain and more thunderstorms increase in the afternoon hours on Thursday. Check the Ole Miss Spirit for the latest schedule changes and announcements.