Defending national champion Florida is ranked No. 1 in the National Fastpitch Coaches Association preseason poll. The Gators received 20 first-place votes, more than double the number for No. 2 Oregon (8). All eight schools that played in last year's Women's College World Series are in the poll's Top 10: Florida, Oregon, Alabama (3), Oklahoma (4), Florida State (5), Kentucky (6), Louisiana-Lafayette (9), and Baylor (10). The other two Top 10 slots are filled by UCLA (7) and Michigan (8).
Few minutes after 6:00 pm Central: We now have our eighth team for the Women's College World Series, Oregon State (in the postings below, all WCWS qualifiers are depicted in bold). The Beavers defeated Cal 3-0 and then 1-0 today, to take the teams' super-regional series 2-1. 4:40 pm Central: We have the identities of two more teams going to the WCWS (bringing the total to seven), but Oregon State has stayed alive against Cal, forcing a third and deciding game to determine the one remaining team for the World Series. Leave it to the Beavers! Here are the two teams (in bold) that have earned bids to Oklahoma City thus far today: Tennessee , which edged Michigan 1-0 in what must have been a very dramatic finish to those who saw it live. The reason I say must have been is that ESPN cut away to show a live Barry Bonds at-bat in his quest for 715 home runs, a number that would surpass Babe Ruth for second on the all-time list. Sure enough, Bonds blasted one deep into the c...