Breaking Down Stanford's ACC Softball Championship Bracket

The ACC Softball Championship bracket is set, and Stanford has landed a No. 4 seed after a 36-12 season that included an 18-6 record in conference play. In a fun twist, Florida State earned the No. 1 seed after a 46-8 season and a 21-3 record in ACC play — but all three of those losses came against Stanford just a couple of weeks ago.

This team is rolling, currently on a 14-game win streak, which includes those victories over FSU. The streak also encompasses their sweep over NC State, which ended up as the No. 12 seed in the tournament. If they defeat the Louisville Cardinals, they would be in line to face Stanford in the second round on Thursday, May 7.

The way things are laid out, Stanford gets the first day of the tournament off as the No. 4 seed, and they will end up playing the winner of Louisville and NC State. If Stanford wins that game, then they would move on to face Florida State (or the winner of Notre Dame/Georgia Tech) in the semifinals on Friday, May 8.

Breaking down the bracket

While Stanford could end up facing NC State in the quarterfinals on Thursday, they could also end up against No. 5 Louisville, a team they lost two of three to on the road at the end of February. After losing the first matchup 8-3, the final two games were closer, with the Cardinal winning 10-8 in the second game, and Louisville taking the series with a 9-8 game three win.

One factor that could play a bit of a role in this tournament is that Stanford will not be at home, where they recently swept both FSU and NC State. Instead, this tournament will be in Charlottesville, Va. Stanford ended the regular season with a 27-8 record at home, and a 9-4 mark on the road.

In other words, that's a .771 winning percentage at home, and a .692 on the road. They're still a terrific team when they leave campus, but that is a legitimate drop-off.

The rest of the bracket:

No. 1 Florida State

No. 2 Duke

No. 3 Virginia Tech

No. 4 Stanford

No. 5 Louisville

No. 6 Virginia

No. 7 Clemson

No. 8 Notre Dame

No. 9 Georgia Tech

No. 10 North Carolina

No. 11 Pitt

No. 12 NC State

Duke will be waiting on the winner of Clemson/North Carolina, while Virginia Tech will challenge the winner of Pitt/Virginia. Regardless of how the first round matchups shake out, Stanford will have the second-earliest first pitch time on Thursday at 1:30 p.m. ET, or 10:30 a.m. PT. On top of playing on the road, that early start for a West Coast school could have an impact as well.

All in all, the Cardinal are firing on all cylinders at the right time of the season. Alyssa Houston is riding a 16 2/3 inning scoreless streak, spanning six appearances and Taryn Kern is one of just 17 players in college softball to receive a golden ticket for Monday's AUSL Draft.

There is plenty of reason to believe that Stanford can make a legitimate run in this tournament. Now they just need to go out and win three games.

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