Omaha, somewhere in the middle of America, is where everyone’s field of dreams is this summer.
The Blue Wave baseball and Lady Owls softball teams are both vying for a spot in the annual College World Series in both of their respective sports.
The Lady Owls already are on the fast track to getting to Omaha. On May 10 they successfully defended their A-Sun championship and received an automatic bid to the NCAA regional.
Unfortunately, the NCAA was not too nice to our Lady Owls. With FSU, ACC, Texas-Arlington, Southland, and Bethune-Cookman, MEAC, FAU becomes the fourth team in this regional to have won their conference title. As if that was not bad enough, Oklahoma, FSU, Florida and South Florida are all nationally ranked going into this tournament.
FAU really has nothing to worry about, though. They have faced a tough schedule all year, even playing the #1 UCLA Bruins this season. The Lady Owls will not be intimidated and are looking to make a name for themselves.
The good news for the Lady Owls is that they only need to win this tournament to get to Omaha. The NCAA has expanded its tournament field from 48 to 64 teams, but there is only the Regional before the College World Series.
The Blue Wave, on the other hand, has a much tougher road to Omaha.
First, with one win over Stetson, FAU will draw the 1st seed in the A-Sun championships. The Wave is also out to prove something in this tournament, as they were picked to finish as low as 3rd in pre-season polls.
After the conference tournament, FAU will then find where they will go for a NCAA regional tournament. Normally an 11th national ranking and a conference championship would be the ingredients to host a regional. Unfortunately for FAU, the state of Florida could send as many as six teams into the NCAA tournament, so hosting might not be in FAU’s playing cards.
Finally, the Blue Wave will need to win a super-regional to advance to Omaha. A super-regional is a best-of-three series between two regional winners with a trip to Omaha on the line.
Last year FAU made their first super-regional appearance after upsetting Alabama in the regional. This year the Blue Wave wants it all. They have their eyes set on Omaha and will do whatever it takes to get there.
With football and basketball over and no championship, I personally am riding on the baseball and softball teams to give me something to cheer about.
In the games of summer, FAU has the opportunity to make this summer very special. Two titles to hang on flags and bragging rights over the bigger schools in the state will be something this school could ride on for a long time.
