THE SKY IS FALLING.. right on top of BYU softball.

[BroncoBot]

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After reading the first paragraph of this article that BYU sports is about to fold. All because the softball team might be without a conference in a year.

Come one Tribune, way too much bias coming through on that one.

[Mars]

I say, don't play in the WAC this year. Make them lose their auto-bid.

[BroncoBot]

Not the worst idea you've had Mars . I think the WAC is just playing games because they are mad they didn't end up with the BYU cash cow in "other" sports.

BYU softball is going to be just fine without the WAC.

[scott715]

The Big 12 should take them to make.

[bigddan11]

I say, don't play in the WAC this year. Make them lose their auto-bid.

The WAC wouldn't lose their autobid this year. With BYU the WAC has 8 teams this year. The NCAA requirement is 6 teams. Basically the WAC will lose Fresno State, Nevada, and Hawaii, all of which have softball programs, and now BYU, whom they are kicking out, at the end of 2012. They will replace them with 4 universities coming into the conference that all have softball programs- Texas State, UT-Arlington, UT-San Antonio, and Seattle.

Things aren't as dire as you might think though. A lot of what will happen will depend on the Big Sky. Currently the Big Sky Conference has 5 schools that participate in the Pacific Coast Softball Conference (Idaho State, Northern Colorado, Portland State, Weber State, and Sacramento State). The Big Sky is adding Southern Utah and North Dakota, both of which have softball programs, and Montana has voted to start softball up in 2013, meaning the Big Sky will have 8 schools that will compete in softball, meaning they will probably start to sponsor it as a conference sport.

With that the PCSC will lose 6 teams (the 5 Big Sky teams and Seattle), leaving them with only 6 teams remaining. Out of those 6 teams, 4 of them are WCC schools (Loyola Marymount, St. Mary's, Santa Clara, and San Diego). The WCC has been in talks with those four schools and BYU about starting WCC softball. Obviously they would need one more team to meet the NCAA requirements of 6 teams. Well, Utah Valley and Cal State Bakersfield would be the only two schools remaining in the PCSC, meaning they would be prime candidates for being affiliate softball members in the WCC. Utah Valley is only minutes away from BYU, and CS- Bakersfield would still get to be rivals with fellow state schools. The other option is in order to replace some of the schools they just lost, the PCSC could invite BYU. Even if the Big Sky schools don't split, the PCSC would be looking for someone to take Seattle's spot, which BYU would fit into, and it would establish rivalries with fellow state schools Weber State and Utah Valley. Either way BYU Softball will be just fine in the end. There's no way a Top 25 program is going to be cast into oblivion and not get a shot t making the NCAA Tourney.