UL Softball Projected to Host 2021 Regional & Make WCWS
Louisiana's Ragin' Cajun softball team is projected to be a host for the 2021 NCAA Regionals.
To make things even better, Scott Whittum of College Sports Madness projects the Cajuns to qualify for the Women's College World Series for the first time since 2014.
Yeah; it's early, as Louisiana hasn't even played a game yet, so you shouldn't buy too much into this quite yet.
That being said; projections are always fun to talk about, and these guys normally do a very good job of doing this kind of thing.
Louisiana, which will open up its 2021 regular-season schedule this weekend, when they travel to Birmingham, Alabama to take part in the UAB Green & Gold Classic, is being projected as the #1-seed in the Lafayette, La. Regional by College Sports Madness.
Officially, there are no 2-4 seeds in the NCAA Regionals. The NCAA only recognizes the top seed. But we can all easily figure it out.
The tournament field will be released on Sunday, May 16.
Louisiana will be looking to qualify for their 23rd-consecutive NCAA Regional appearance, including their 30th in the last 31 years, excluding 2020, when there was no postseason.
The only year since 1990 in which Louisiana failed to appear in a regional was 1998.
If the Cajuns indeed host, it would mark the first time they would do so in five years. They hosted for three-straight years, from 2014-2016, in which they were the top seed.
Louisiana has had a lot of success in postseason play, advancing to Super Regional play for 5-straight years, from 2012-2016, prior to playing on Championship Sunday in the last two Regionals.
The Cajuns are projected as the top-seed in the Lafayette Regional, along with the Ole Miss, Stanford, and Prairie View.
Louisiana is projected as the number nine national-seed.
UCLA is the top-seed in the projections, followed by Washington, Arizona, Alabama, Oklahoma, Florida St., Florida, and Texas.
Last season, Louisiana was 18-6, ranked in everyone's top ten, and number one in the RPI poll when the season was shut down in mid-March due to the Coronavirus pandemic.
We'll never know how things would have played out, but it's almost certain UL would have hosted a regional for the first time since 2016, and very likely would have hosted a Super Regional for the first time since 2014.
Louisiana is one of only 9 programs to appear in an NCAA Regional every year since 2000, joining Alabama, Arizona, Florida St., Michigan, Notre Dame, Oklahoma, UCLA, and Washington.
Again; it's incredibly early, so don't read too much into this, but you can view the complete projections, here.