Regular-season conference play is over, with conference tournaments beginning this coming week.  In reviewing final conference standings, let's start with the deepest conference, the SEC . National No. 1 Oklahoma took two of three at Texas A&M this weekend to finish 20-4 in league play (48-7 overall) and edge out national No. 3 Alabama (19-5, 47-6) for the SEC regular-season title. The Crimson Tide swept South Carolina to close out its conference schedule. Florida (17-7, 47-9) came in third. Behind the Gators was a three-way tie for fourth, fifth, and sixth, with Tennessee, Texas, and Texas A&M each finishing at 16-8. As some readers may recall, the defending Women's College World Series champion Longhorns began the season 31-1 overall, before experiencing the brutality of SEC competition. Texas finished the season 39-10, meaning the Horns went 8-9 in their final 17 games. A big story for the Sooners this season is the slugging of catcher Kendall Wells, who is in only h...

Texas, seeking to avoid a three-game sweep at the hands of Oklahoma, leads today's series finale 3-0 on a three-run homer by the Longhorns' Kayden Henry B2. Teagan Kavan in the circle for Texas, LSU transfer Sydney Berson for OU... Sooners get one of the runs back on an Abby Dayton solo-shot in T3, now 3-1 Texas... OU adds a run T4 on two singles and an error, cutting its deficit to 3-2 ... Horns threatening in B4 with runners on first and second and one out... Nothing comes of it... T5, Leighann Goode homer gives UT a little breathing room, 4-2 ... T6, single, passed-ball, and two sac-flies bring the Sooners within 4-3 ... B6, Katie Stewart homer restores Texas lead to two runs, 5-3 ... After OU rallied for two runs in T7 to tie the game 5-5 and then took a 6-5 lead in T8, Texas came up with three in B8 -- a lead-off solo-shot by pinch-hitter Hannah Wells and then a one-out two-run blast by Stewart -- to win 8-6 ... Highlights of the game are available here on YouTube ...

Since I last posted, Oklahoma has taken over first place in the SEC with a 12-1 conference record (39-3 overall), two games clear of second-place Alabama (11-3) in the loss column. Texas, which started off the year 31-1, is currently on a three-game losing streak and fifth in the conference at 9-4 (32-5). Florida (13-4) and Texas A&M (10-4) are the other two teams ahead of Texas. The nationally No. 2 Sooners and No. 4 Longhorns began their three-game series last night in Austin, with OU prevailing 3-0. Oklahoma soph Audrey Lowry went the distance, striking out 4 and allowing 6 hits and only 1 walk. This Sports Illustrated article credited the defense behind Lowry. I'll be commenting on Game 2 of the OU-UT series, which has just come on the air on ESPN. Another sophomore, Miali Guachino, is starting in the circle for the Sooners... Bottom 1, Longhorns have taken a 1-0 lead on a one-out single up the middle by Viviana Martinez. A line-out double-play gets OU out of a jam... H...

In a game that just concluded on ESPN 2, Florida defeated Tennessee 3-2 to take the teams' weekend series two games to one (the Lady Vols took Friday's opener 2-1, whereas the Gators prevailed 5-2 on Saturday). UF looked to be in commanding position in today's game, leading 3-0 as the Lady Vols batted in the top of the sixth. However, Tennessee got a two-run homer from Gabby Leach to close to within 3-2 and then, in the top of the seventh, got its leadoff batter to second when the Florida left-fielder lost a routine fly in the sun. The Lady Vols couldn't get the runner home, however.

In what may end up being the most important series of the Big XII schedule this year, No. 2 Texas Tech took two of three from visiting No. 12 Arizona. The Wildcats stunned the Red Raiders in Friday night's series opener, winning 9-0 via run rule after five innings. U of A knocked TTU starter NiJaree Canady out of the game with none out in the top of the fifth, after Canady had given up a grand-slam to Grace Jenkins to make it 9-0. Canady also allowed a pair of homers in the third, a three-run blast also from Jenkins and a solo shot by Anyssa Wild. Jalen Adams pitched all five inning for the Cats, allowing four hits and one walk. The opener of Saturday's doubleheader didn't start much better for Tech. An Addison Duke three-run homer off of Kaitlyn Terry gave Arizona a 5-1 lead in the top of the second. However, the Raiders put up five-spots in the second and fourth innings en route to a 14-6 run rule win of their own (six innings). Rylie Holder, the Wildcats' starter i...

The most prominent event of this past weekend was the Mary Nutter Classic in the Palm Springs, California, area. The 30-team tournament (29 college squads plus a team from Japan) featured three Top Ten teams -- Texas Tech, Oklahoma, and Nebraska -- but the trio did not play each other. There were also several teams just outside the national Top Ten.  The shocker of the weekend -- not just at the Mary Nutter but overall -- was No. 4 Oklahoma's 6-4 loss to Long Beach State . The Beach (9-6 at the end of the weekend) went 2-3 at the Nutter, losing to BYU, Oregon State, and St. Mary's, and beating Bethune-Cookman. Texas Tech swept its games against collegiate competition to raise its overall record to 16-1, but dropped a 1-0 exhibition contest to Japan (which doesn't count in the Red Raiders' record).  Nebraska went 5-0 on the weekend, its most impressive win coming over No. 11/13 Texas A&M by an 8-2 tally. Texas went undefeated over five games at Stanford's DeMar...