This weekend in addition to airing college lacrosse, the ESPN Family of Networks airs college softball conference tournaments. Then on Sunday, ESPNU will have the Selection Show for the NCAA Division I Softball Tournament. Let’s look at the releases from ESPN.
College Softball Tournaments on ESPN Networks
The SEC and BIG EAST will crown its softball champion this weekend on ESPN networks, including full coverage of the SEC Tournament. The SEC Tournament eight-team field, beginning with the quarterfinals on Thursday, May 12 and wrapping up with the title game on Saturday, May 14, will be played at the Ole Miss Softball Complex in Oxford, Miss. The entire tournament will be televised in high definition on ESPN networks. The three quarterfinal games and the semifinals will be on ESPNU HD, while the fourth quarterfinal game will air on ESPN2 HD and the championship game will be televised on ESPN HD.
Calling the games will be ESPN’s softball crew: Beth Mowins, Michele Smith, Jessica Mendoza and Cara Capuano.
The BIG EAST Championship title game will air Saturday, May 14, at 5 p.m. on ESPN2 HD. Justin Kutcher and Amanda Scarborough will call the game.
Date Time (ET) Game Network Thu, May 12 Noon SEC Quarterfinal Game 1 (Oxford, Miss.):
No. 3 seed Tennessee vs. No. 6 seed Kentucky
Cara Capuano & Michelle SmithESPNU HD 2:30 p.m. SEC Quarterfinal Game 2 (Oxford, Miss.):
No. 2 seed Florida vs. No. 7 seed Auburn
Cara Capuano & Michelle SmithESPNU HD 5 p.m. SEC Quarterfinal Game 3 (Oxford, Miss.):
No. 4 seed LSU vs. No. 5 seed Georgia
Beth Mowins & Jessica MendozaESPNU HD 7:30 p.m. SEC Quarterfinal Game 4 (Oxford, Miss.):
No. 1 seed Alabama vs. No. 8 seed Mississippi State
Beth Mowins & Jessica MendozaESPN2 HD Fri, May 13 3 p.m. SEC Semifinal Game 1 (Oxford, Miss.)
Beth Mowins, Michele Smith & Jessica MendozaESPNU HD 5:30 p.m. SEC Semifinal Game 2 (Oxford, Miss.)
Beth Mowins, Michele Smith & Jessica MendozaESPNU HD Sat, May 14 5 p.m. BIG EAST Championship Game (Louisville, Ky.)
Justin Kutcher & Amanda ScarboroughESPN2 HD 8 p.m. SEC Championship Game (Oxford, Miss.)
Beth Mowins, Michele Smith & Jessica MendozaESPN HD
And as mentioned, ESPNU will carry the Selection for the NCAA Softball Tournament when all the conference action is said and done.
NCAA Softball Selection Show on ESPNU
ESPNU HD will air the NCAA Division I Softball Selection Show on Sunday, May 15, at 10 p.m., unveiling of the 64-team field. The one-hour show will include tournament predictions, analysis of the bracket and phone interviews with some of the top head coaches in the nation.
Beth Mowins will host with analysts Jessica Mendoza and Michele Smith. Both accomplished softball players, Mendoza was a four-time All-American at Stanford and won Olympic Gold (2004) and Silver (2008) medals, while Smith was a two-time All-American at Oklahoma State and earned two Olympic Gold Medals (1996 & 2000).
ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU and ESPN3.com and ESPN Mobile TV will provide extensive coverage of the NCAA Division I Softball Championship — up to 55 games May 20-June 8. It will mark ESPN’s 30th consecutive year covering the event.
ESPN networks will feature complete coverage of three Regional sites May 20-22 and will combine to televise every game from the eight best-of-three Super Regional series May 26-29. Each Super Regional winner will advance to the Women’s College World Series. ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN3.com and ESPN Mobile will combine to televise all of the Women’s College World Series games June 2-8.
We’ll end it there.
