DENVER – Despite a 43-18 record, a third-place finish in the RMAC regular season and RMAC tournament, and two wins in three games against seventh-seeded St. Mary's (Texas), the MSU Denver softball team was denied a trip to the NCAA Tournament.
 
The NCAA announced its 64-team tournament field on Monday morning, stunning the Roadrunners' softball team.
 
MSU Denver has more wins than anyone not in the tournament field, ranking 15th nationally with 43 -- next is Minnesota-Duluth with 41. Only two other teams with more than 37 wins are not in the NCAA Tournament.

MSU Denver entered last weekend ranked seventh in the South Central Region and lost only to region No. 3 Colorado Christian (twice) while beating region No. 6m Colorado Mesa at the RMAC Tournament. St. Mary's, which had been eighth, moved up to seventh after reaching the semifinals of the single-elimination Lone Star Conference Tournament with a win over region No. 5 Oklahoma Christian.
 
Prior to last weekend, MSU Denver ranked ahead of St. Mary's (32-24) in several categories, including in-region winning percentage, Division II winning percentage, RPI and results against teams with .500 or better records. MSU Denver was seventh in the region and St. Mary's was eighth. St. Mary's had a better strength of schedule and record against Division II ranked teams.
 
The other factor considered by the regional ranking committee – which forwards its rankings on to the national committee for confirmation – is record against common opponents. St. Mary's was 11-7 against common opponents, while MSU Denver was 9-7.

The regional ranking committee includes one coach and one administrator from both the Rocky Mountain Athletic and Lone Star Conferences. The chair of the regional ranking committee, an RMAC administrator, is one of the eight people on the national committee.

Of the eight categories considered by the committee, MSU Denver appeared to have been better than St. Mary's in at least four and possibly five.

The NCAA doesn't announce the final breakdown of statistical categories.

It's consistent with many NCAA regional ranking decisions, where teams are rewarded more for losing to good teams than for winning against average teams.

But typically, head-to-head results trump all situations for teams ranked next to one another.
 
Not considered, but worth noting, is record against common opponents in the South Central Regional – MSU Denver was 7-5, while St. Mary's was 3-6. Against all opponents in the South Central Regional field, MSU Denver was 10-10, while St. Mary's was 8-12 (and 9-14 including its games against the Roadrunners).
 
Regis stole the final spot in the South Central Regional after winning the RMAC Tournament to get the league's automatic bid.