http://sports.espn.go.com/ncaa/columns/story?id=4156959
3. What is the toughest regional?
First off, massaging a bracket to minimize travel costs is miserable and thankless work, so there's some measure of credit due the committee for keeping the number of necessary flights low (by my count, only 14 teams will clearly have to fly to reach a regional site).
But geography does create some regional sites that are great for fans but daunting for teams.
And in a close race, Waco looks like the slight "winner" for toughest regional, narrowly edging out Los Angeles (UCLA, Fresno State, UNLV, Long Beach State) and Tempe (Arizona State, San Diego State, LSU, Cal State Fullerton).
No. 12 seed Northwestern stumbled toward the end of the regular season, and the selection committee provided ample opportunity for someone to kick the Wildcats while they're down by sending them to face host Baylor, Louisiana-Lafayette and Texas State.
With third baseman Brette Reagan back in the lineup, Baylor went 12-7 down the stretch, including wins against Oklahoma, Texas, Nebraska and Texas A&M. One team it lost to during that stretch was Texas State, which may be the toughest 4-seed in any regional after racing through the Southland Conference regular season and tournament.
And yet the hottest team heading to Waco may be Louisiana-Lafayette. Although she's pitching limited innings alongside Donna Bourgeois, Ashley Brignac has 94 strikeouts in 69 innings this season and hasn't allowed an earned run in 66.1 consecutive innings.