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2025 Super-Regionals Day 1

Two games are on tap for tonight, No. 12-seed Texas Tech at No. 5-seed Florida State, and No. 11-seed Clemson at No. 6-seed Texas... All series are two-out-of-three to get to the Women's College World Series... TEXAS TECH-FLORIDA STATE The Red Raiders lead 2-0. Tech scored single runs each in the first innning (based on two singles and an FSU throwing error) and the fourth (on an Alana Johnson homer;  video ). Seminoles come up in the bottom of the fifth, still looking for their first baserunner off of NiJaree Canady... Leadoff walk for the Noles... After a fly-out, TTU 1B- and 2B-persons both go for infield grounder, with no one covering first (ruled a hit)... FSU with runners on first and second, one out... Foul-out to left-fielder, two down... Strikeout swinging to end the Seminole threat, Canady extra-demonstrative in her celebration! T6, leadoff single for Tech, grounder between SS and 2B-bag... Back-to-back pop-ups to third for two out... This time a pop-up to the right side ...
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Preview of Sunday's Matchups in 2025 NCAA Tourney

It was a late night on Saturday, with five of the regionals playing elimination games beyond midnight Eastern. The chart at the bottom shows what we're left with for Sunday. In each region, there's an undefeated team that needs only one win to advance to the super-regionals and a one-loss team that must beat the undefeated team twice. All other teams have been elminated. Of note, five national seeds have lost at least once heading into Sunday, including No. 1 Texas A&M who has one loss and No. 10 LSU who is gone. Below are my comments on the games... NO. 1-SEED TEXAS A&M VS. LIBERTY GAME 1: Liberty (home team) with early 1-0 lead over No. 1 Texas A&M B2... Flames add a run B2 to lead 2-0... Now 6-0 Liberty... A&M (trailing 6-1 after three) closes to within 6-2 T4... Word of Texas A&M's demise is premature. Aggies end up with six runs in T4 to lead 7-6. After two were out in T4, A&M gets single, single, HR, and HR before Flames get the final out... Ag...
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2025 NCAA Tournament Geospatial Maps and Preview

The NCAA tournament brackets were released on Sunday and, as an annual traditon here at the College Softball Blog, I have mapped out where teams are coming from to participate in the 16 regional sites. As shown below, each regional contains four teams, with the one nationally seeded team (seed number in parentheses) hosting (you can click on the graphics to enlarge them). Play in the double-elimination regionals begins Friday. The big question is whether Oklahoma (No. 2 national seed) can make it five national titles in a row at the Women's College World Series. The SEC, into which Oklahoma and Texas moved this year, was absolutely loaded. Fourteen out of the SEC's 15 softball-playing schools made the NCAA field and seven of the eight top national seeds are from the SEC (No. 5 seed Florida State is from the ACC). The SEC standings -- with Oklahoma (17-7), Texas A&M (16-7), Texas (16-8), and Tennessee (15-9) in a logjam at the top -- show that no team went unscathed. Even...
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ESPN.com's Mid-April Summary of the 2025 Season

ESPN.com's Bill Connelly offers an overview of the college softball season thus far (mid-April), reviewing the top teams and players. As Connelly writes, the SEC is domiant. However, the conference's two newest arrivals -- pre-season favorites Texas and Oklahoma -- have each lost a few games. Instead, for the moment at least, the focus is on Texas A&M (15-5 vs. RPI top 25 and winners of 16 of its last 17 games) and Tennessee (winners of four out of six games combined vs. Oklahoma and Texas, but only 10-8 vs. the RPI top 25).
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Weekend Roundup -- March 21-23 -- Oklahoma Loses First Game After 28-0 Start

Four-time defending national champion Oklahoma suffered its first loss of the 2025 season after a 28-0 start, falling to Missouri 3-1 in the middle game of a three-game series. The Sooners won the first (8-0 run-rule) and third (5-1) games against Mizzou, leaving OU currently at 29-1. Texas Tech travelled to South Carolina for a three-game nonconference series and the Gamecocks took two of three. South Carolina took the opener 5-2 and the second game 1-0. In the latter, the Gamecocks' Jori Heard and Sam Gress combined for a three-hit shutout . Combined, they struck out only two Raider batters, meaning that Texas Tech put a lot of balls in play. NiJaree Canady made her only start of the weekend in this game, giving up just a third-inning solo-shot to South Carolina's Natalie Heath ( video ). Canady struck out nine, allowing only two hits and two walks. The Red Raiders were in real danger of getting swept, as they trailed 5-0 after three innings in Sunday's finale, before sco...
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Weekend Roundup -- March 15-17 (Saturday Through Monday) -- Texas Takes Two of Three from Florida

No. 2 Texas took two of three from No. 3 Florida in Gainesville this past weekend (actually Saturday through Monday) in a battle of national contenders. The Longhorns swept a Saturday doubleheader 7-2 and 13-7. After the teams skipped Sunday action due to weather considerations, the Gators came back to salvage Game 3 on Monday by a 3-1 score.  No. 1 Oklahoma moved to 26-0 overall, sweeping Arkansas in Fayetteville, 7-0, 6-4, and 10-7.
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Weekend Roundup -- March 7-9, 2025 -- Canady-mania in Lubbock!

The Big 12 opened up on an exciting note last Friday, with No. 13 Oklahoma State (a program that has made the last five Women's College World Series) visiting No. 15 Texas Tech for a three-game series in Red Raider pitcher NiJaree Canady's conference debut. With newly added outfield seats  in place, a  stadium record 2,122 fans  attended Friday's opening doubleheader. The crowd was not disappointed , as Texas Tech not only swept the doubleheader, but also held the Cowgirls scoreless on the night by scores of 9-0 (run-rule) and 2-0. After an off-day Saturday due to forecast inclement weather, Oklahoma State did salvage Sunday afternoon's finale, 10-1 (run-rule). As shown in the following chart, Raider coach Gerry Glasco limited Canady's innings to some extent, as she threw nine innings total out of a possible 17. This included only two innings on Sunday, during which Canady allowed five baserunners (four hits and a walk). Cowgirl ace Ruby Meylan, who did not pitch ...
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