Greg Sankey on SEC softball: 'Every time you go out, you're playing in an NCAA Super Regional'

Be it professional obligation or his own personal enjoyment, SEC commissioner Greg Sankey never misses a chance to thump his chest about the strength of the league he oversees. And on Friday, he stepped up to the pulpit to hail the depth and competitive of the softball teams in the league.

As things stand, the SEC is likely to get a vast majority of — if not all 13 — teams into the field for the NCAA tournament. So speaking about the league on Friday between SEC softball semifinal matchups at the league tournament, Sankey sang the praises of the league.

“Level of competition, level of coaching,” Sankey said on the SEC Network desk. “Every time you go out, you’re playing in an NCAA Super Regional. And I think that’s what competitors want. I think we forget that that’s what they want.”

And so far, the close games in the league tournament have helped to prove Sankey’s point, likely NCAA tournament teams have played into numerous close games. A handful have been decided in extra innings.

Sankey also hammered home another point he wanted to make: The SEC might sit in a specific geographic footprint — which will grow on July 1 — but is a national league.

“I was looking at rosters as part of my game-watching experience and this is a national conference,” Sankey said. “You look at players from the Northeast, players from the West Coast, players from he Upper Northwest, from the Midwest, to all want to be here and be part of the excitement when you turn on our softball games during the season. You’re on a network, you can be accessed digitally or through the old ways of satellite and cable, all across the country and even, to certain extent, across the globe.”

The semifinal shortly preceding Sankey’s remarks was decided in extras

Maddie Gallagher got to play hero on Friday for Missouri, driving home the pair of runs the Tigers needed to advance to the SEC softball tournament championship game with a 2-1 win over LSU. And Gallagher delivered her second RBI in walkoff fashion in extra innings.

After the squads were dead even at 1-1 following seven innings, LSU was held scoreless in the top of the 8th inning. And when a pair of runners got aboard — and then to second and third base on a wild pitch — with Gallagher up to bat, she knew her job was simple.

She delivered with a deep fly ball for a game-winning sacrifice.

“We just do everything for each other, for the team,” Gallagher said to ESPN’s Holly Rowe. “So that was my job. They got on base, I just had to score them. So I got it to the outfield.”

With the win, the Tigers now roll into the SEC championship game on Saturday.

“It’s so important, but I know we’re going to keep it,” Gallagher said of the momentum build for Missouri. “We love each other. We’ll do anything for each other. This was just a great momentum switch for us.”