Michigan coach Carol Hutchins has won this year's espnW Pat Summitt Coaching Award , named after the late  Tennessee women's basketball coach .

The deciding game for the national championship is underway... Two Oklahoma singles, combined with two Auburn errors, put two runs across for Sooners in bottom of first... 2-0 OU ... Auburn leaves runners on first and second in top second, as Paige Parker's change-up fools Auburn batter for strikeout... OU can't build on a one-out single in the bottom half... Tigers get first two runners on in top of third -- Parker drops soft pop-up to her, then Auburn bunt goes for base-hit...  Kasey Cooper flares a single to right-center, loading the bases for Emily Carosone, who hit last night's walk-off grand slam... Carosone strikes out on three pitches... Carlee Wallace up... Grounds into 6-4-3 double-play to end threat... Sooners don't score in bottom half, leaving runner on first... Leadoff homer to left from Jade Rhodes cuts Tiger deficit to 2-1... Haley Fagan walks on full count... Nothing more for Auburn in top of fourth... Two-out walk for OU in bottom half... Groun...

A wide-open game so far, with Oklahoma leading Auburn 7-5 after two complete... OU (the visitor tonight) led 7-0 after an inning and a half. After Auburn got its leadoff batter on base in the bottom of the second via HBP, the next two Tigers struck out. But a walk, homer, error, triple, and single have brought us to our present score... Still 7-5 Sooners, as Tigers come up in bottom of fourth... Two-run shot by Kasey Cooper ties it 7-up... Next batter singles... OU frosh pitcher Jayden Chestnut (who replaced starter Kelsey Stevens) clearly struggling, with none out. Will Paige Parker come in to pitch at some point? Pair of baserunning outs (runner trying to advance from second to third on infield grounder, and failed attempt to steal second) put the kibosh on Auburn rally... Sooners go quietly in top of fifth... As do Tigers in bottom half... Auburn pitcher Rachael Walters has been very effective, after replacing starter Kaylee Carlson, who was charged with all seven OU runs......

We're moments away from Game 1 of the two-out-of-three championship series between Auburn and Oklahoma. I'm going to pick the Sooners, based on steadiness of pitching in the latter part of the season. In early May, Auburn's pitching imploded for a time. Also, the way the Tigers gave up a game-tying three-run homer in the seventh yesterday to Florida State doesn't inspire confidence... With Oklahoma as the home team for Game 1 and pitching stalwart Paige Parker in the circle, Auburn comes up to bat... A Tiger threat is extinguished on an unusual double-play , ending with a runner thrown out attempting to go from second to third... Lexi Davis with the surprise pitching start for Auburn... OU gets a runner on in the first, but doesn't score... Sydney Romero's three-run blast in the bottom of the third continues to hold up, as OU leads 3-0... Auburn down to its final hacks in the top of the seventh... Leadoff walk... Jade Rhodes homers over the center-fiel...

It will be Oklahoma vs. Auburn for the national title in a two-out-of-three series beginning Monday night. Below are my comments from the four games played Sunday (I caught more of some games than of others)... LSU vs. OKLAHOMA -- OU 3-0, top third... After LSU ties it, Oklahoma pulls away again to win 7-3. FLORIDA STATE vs. AUBURN -- Tied 3-3, with the Seminoles batting in the top of the third... FSU single drives in runner from third for 4-3 lead... Jade Rhodes socks three-run homer for Auburn, giving Tigers 6-4 lead in bottom of third... Kasey Cooper blasts a two-out solo shot in bottom of fourth, increasing Auburn lead to 7-4... Beautiful catch by Tigers' Victoria Draper, with FSU having runners on first and second with one out, top sixth. Saves one or two runs. The catch appears about a minute and a half into this highlight video ... Walk loads bases for Seminoles, though, with two outs... Alex Powers fly-out to center ends threat... Top 7: Noles down to final hacks, t...

Under the usual Women's College World Series format, today would be "Survival Saturday." The remaining undefeated teams would be getting a day of rest, and all the teams playing on Saturday would have had a loss from Thursday or Friday, making them vulnerable under the double-elimination procedure. However, because of Thursday night's rain-outs, the schedule has been shifted around. Only some of today's games, therefore, are pitting one-loss teams against each other, with the loser going home and the winner surviving. These elimination games feature Florida St. vs. UCLA, and LSU vs. Alabama. This evening's games, matching up teams who won their WCWS openers, include Georgia vs. Auburn, and Oklahoma vs. Michigan (the latter pitting the Romero sisters against each other). To keep track of how many losses a given team has, see the chart at the bottom of this posting... SUNDAY MATCH-UPS: Michigan vs. Florida State, and LSU vs. Georgia, in elimination games...

DAY-1 GAME 4 -- LSU vs. MICHIGAN (PLAYED ON DAY 2) The Tigers and Wolverines are now underway, roughly 24 hours after they were supposed to play... Bailey Landry drives a one-out double to the left-field wall to get things going for LSU... Strike-out and infield pop-up end the threat... Sierra Lawrence on third for Michigan with two outs in the bottom of the first; she walked, then advanced a base at a time on two ground-outs... Fly-out to left ends the inning... Elyse Thornhill's infield single doesn't lead to anything for LSU in top second... Bottom 2: UM's Lindsay Montemarano bloops a two-out single to left, barely beyond the infield dirt... Nothing comes of it, though... Top 4: Bianka Bell leads off with an infield single for the Tigers (chopper over third-baseperson's head, retrieved by shortstop)... Two-out walk puts Tigers on first and second... K ends inning... One-out single for Michigan's Kelsey Susalla in bottom of fourth, followed by Tera Blanco base-h...

UPDATED SCHEDULE DUE TO THURSDAY-NIGHT RAIN-OUTS GAME 3 -- ALABAMA vs. OKLAHOMA Bama retired 1-2-3 in the top of the first... OU gets a runner via walk, but thrown out on steal attempt by wide margin to end first inning... Rain and wind picking up, but play continues into second inning... Crimson Tide goes 1-2-3 again in second, before tide of rain forces delay... GAME 2 -- UCLA vs. AUBURN Our next game will be a rematch of last year's extra-inning WCWS classic, won by Auburn 11-10 over UCLA (click here and then scroll down on the new page, for a summary)... Game underway... Round-the-horn ground-ball double-play retires UCLA in top of first... Auburn gets first batter aboard via HBP... Kasey Cooper doubles to right-center gap, leaving runners on second and third with none out... Weak infield pop-up, one down... Walk to load bases... Another HBP brings home game's first run... Paige McDuffee replacing Selina Ta'Amilo in circle for Bruins... Sac-fly to right makes...

ESPN-W summarizes the key facts for the eight teams that will be playing in the Women's College World Series. ESPN has a video feature on the Romero sisters, Michigan's Sierra and Oklahoma's Sydney. It has apparently been running on television for over a month, but I didn't catch it until yesterday. With the Wolverines and the Sooners both making the WCWS, the feature remains highly topical!

Game 3 of the UCLA-Oregon super-regional, the final game of a long day, is underway... Duck ace Cheridan Hawkins, who did not pitch Game 2, comes out rusty in the top of the first. A walk, a single, and an airmailed throw to third on the single give UCLA a 1-0 lead... Selina Ta'amilo, who pitched Game 2, goes again in Game 3 for the Bruins... Jenna Lilley leads off Oregon half with base-hit... UCLA can't handle Nikki Udria's bunt, putting runners on first and second... Another bunt (on which UCLA gets out at first) puts Ducks on second and third... Bruins make a quick pitching change, bringing in Paige McDuffee... K for second out... Janelle Lindvall at the plate, HBP to load bases ("Ducks on the Pond")... Lauren Lindvall up, flies out to right, ending threat... UCLA adds a run in the fourth , making it 2-0... Oregon gets a run in the bottom of the seventh and puts the tying run at second with two outs, but can't get the equalizer... UCLA wins 2-1 to advance ...

Once again, we have our super-regional board (below), documenting the winner of every game. Game articles are available by clicking on the highlighted school names... Already on Saturday, LSU has evened its series with James Madison at a game apiece, by a 2-0 margin... In the decisive Game 3, LSU leads JMU 1-0, as the Dukes bat in the bottom of the second... "Good" times for James Madison as Megan ties it up in bottom of fourth... LSU with a rally going in the top of the fifth -- one run in, bases loaded, one out. Megan Good replaces Jailyn Ford in the circle after three walks in inning... Sac-fly to deep center, all runners advance, making it 3-1 Tigers... Dukes' 2B Madyson Moran makes great catch running out to shallow center to snag blooper; saves a run or two! Moran leads of bottom of fifth with single to center... HBP with one out puts runners on first and second... Runners then advance on WP/PB (not sure which)... Ground out holds runners... Another grounder, ...

I'll be updating the following table all weekend, as results from the super-regionals come in... Already, we have one shocker, as No. 16 Georgia shutout No. 1 Florida on Thursday night. The two-time defending national champion Gators now have no room for error, as they must sweep two games from the Bulldogs today. James Madison gets a walk-off win over LSU in Game 1 of their series ( video ). Florida in serious jeopardy of a stunning elimination, as the Gators trail Georgia 1-0 in Game 2, top (Florida) half of the fifth... Gators get runners on first and third with one out in top of fifth... HBP on an 0-2 pitch loads the bases... Another hit batter (on a 1-2 count) ties the game... Ground-out to first plates go-ahead Gator run... Grounder to short ends half-inning with 2-1 UF lead... UGA goes down scoreless in bottom of fifth... Nothing for Florida in the top of the sixth... Nothing for Georgia in the bottom half, either... Scoreless top of seventh for Gators... Last chance ...

ESPN.com's Graham Hays previews the super-regionals . Each super-regional series will be played over two days (a single game on Day 1, with a double-header on Day 2 if a decisive third game is needed). As detailed here , two series will be played on Thursday-Friday (Florida-Georgia, Oklahoma-Louisiana Lafayette); three will be played on  Friday-Saturday (Alabama-Washington, James Madison-LSU, Florida State-Utah); and three on  Saturday-Sunday (Michigan-Missouri, Auburn-Arizona, Oregon-UCLA). For many of these teams, making the super-regionals is old-hat. The super-regional format is now in its twelfth year, having been introduced in 2005 . Here are the teams with the longest continuous streaks of making the supers: Alabama, made it all twelve years Oklahoma, seven straight Oregon, seven straight Louisiana-Lafayette, five straight Florida State, four straight UCLA, three straight LSU, two straight Auburn, two straight And some impressive near-continuous...

The following table shows the status of each regional. The "2-0" and "2-1" column headings reflect teams' records  entering  Sunday's play (with the exception of the Columbia, Missouri regional, which started a day earlier). Under the double-elimination format, the "2-1" team had to beat the "2-0" team twice on Sunday to advance.  Teams in bold (with game-article links) have advanced to the super-regionals. Region 2-0 2-1 Eliminated Eliminated Gainesville, FL Florida (1) C. Florida Fl. Atlantic Alabama St. Ann Arbor, MI Michigan (2) Notre Dame Miami (OH) Valparaiso Norman, OK Oklahoma (3) Ole Miss Wichita St. Tulsa Auburn, AL Auburn (4) Jacksonville St. SC Upstate Oregon St. Eugene, OR Oregon (5) Baylor Long Beach St. Baylor Tuscaloosa, AL Alabama (6) Cal Texas St. Samford Harrisonburg, VA J. Madison (7) Longwood N. Carolina Princeton Tallahassee, FL Florida St. (8) S. Carolina S. Florida Florida A&M Lexington, KY Utah Ke...

Only two of the 16 seeded teams have stumbled thus far in the NCAA tournament. Thirteen seeded teams are undefeated and on pace to win their respective regionals. No. 15 Missouri has already won its region, which started a day earlier than the other ones. No. 9 Kentucky fell to Utah by a 3-0 score. The Utes (2-0) face a rematch with the Wildcats, who rebounded with a win over Illinois   Butler in the losers' bracket. Utah needs but a single win to advance to the super-regionals, whereas Kentucky would have to beat Utah twice. In Knoxville, it was O'Toole Time* as Arizona's Danielle O'Toole nearly pitched a perfect game  in the Wildcats' 4-0 win over No. 13 Tennessee. The Vols will play Ohio State at noon (Eastern) Sunday, with the winner getting a crack at Arizona. The Wildcats will need just one win to advance, whereas whichever team ends up being U of A's opponent will need to win twice. An NCAA bracket that updates after each game is available  here...

The 64-team field and 16 regional hosts for this year's NCAA tournament were announced tonight ( link ). The No. 1 and 2 seedings of Florida and Michigan, respectively, were no surprise, even with each losing in its respective conference tournament ( SEC , B1G ). Oklahoma at No. 3 caught me a little off-guard. The Sooners had been ranked fifth and tied for fourth in the most recent national polls, did not compile a particularly stunning nonconference resume (notwithstanding a single win over Alabama), and played in a conference, the Big 12, which was down this year. Anyway, below is my annual plotting of where teams are headed in the NCAA tourney. Each map depicts five or six of the regions, for optimal visibility. I have used a new method to create my maps this year, thanks to the free plotting website BatchGeo . First is a map of the Alabama, Auburn, Florida State, James Madison, Kentucky, and LSU regional sites, each with its own color code (see bottom of map). Teams in th...

Auburn's pitching has struggled lately, to say the least. In the Tigers' final two regular-season SEC series, against Tennessee and Texas A&M, Auburn gave up an average of 9 runs per game ! Kaylee Carlson was certainly not the only Auburn pitcher having difficulties, but her performance April 30 at Tennessee vividly illustrates the Tigers' pitching woes. In that game, Carlson lasted only t wo-thirds of an inning , allowing 6 walks, 3 hits, and 8 earned runs. Fast forward to today. In Auburn's SEC semifinal match-up with national No. 1 Florida, Carlson didn't give up an earned run as the Tigers upset the Gators 2-1. Earlier in the day, Auburn beat Alabama 6-4. LSU, a 3-1 winner over Tennessee in the other semifinal, will play Auburn in Saturday's final.

Auburn righted its ship a bit, edging Texas A&M , 5-4, to end the Tigers' four-game SEC losing streak. Elsewhere in the conference, Georgia salvaged one win in its three-game series with Alabama, beating the Tide 9-5 today. The SEC will play a conference tournament, beginning on Wednesday; the bracket is available here . The Pac 12, which doesn't have a conference tourney, will close out its regular season next weekend. With nine schools fielding softball squads, one team always gets a bye from conference play. Next week, it will be UCLA (16-5-1), which is done for the regular season. Barring some unlikely developments, the Bruins will finish second in the conference to Oregon (17-3). The Ducks host Utah for three games next weekend and, should UO get swept, its winning percentage (.739) would fall slightly below UCLA's (.750, counting a tie as half a win). Both the Ducks and Bruins have been very hot of late. Before losing to Cal yesterday, Oregon had won 10 straig...

Lots of televised softball this weekend, as the SEC and B1G conclude their respective conference seasons and head into conference tournaments next weekend... No. 6 Auburn, which lost a pair of games a week ago to Tennessee by 10-2 and 12-1 scores, and then lost last night's series-opener to Texas A&M, 6-5 in 8 innings, continues to struggle. Today, the Aggies have bolted out to a 4-0 lead in the top of the first... A&M's Erica Russell homers to lead off the top of the second, making it 5-0... Tigers battle back for four in bottom half; leave bases loaded. Emily Carosone gets Auburn-record 262nd career hit during this inning... Auburn scores two in bottom of third to lead 6-5... A&M threatening in top of fourth, with runners on first and second, one out... Wild pitch and infield hit tie game 6-6... Three-run homer by Samantha Show gives Aggies 9-6 lead... Cali Lanphear goes deep, back-to-back, now 10-6... The final score is 13-6 Aggies. No. 4 Alabama, which had...

Auburn will probably drop from its current No. 3 national ranking in both polls, following a pair of run-rule losses to Tennessee on Sunday. Knoxville rainstorms played havoc with what was supposed to be a three-game series, delaying games and ultimately forcing the cancellation of Monday's Game 3.

No. 1 Florida and unranked Mississippi State are going to extra innings on Sunday, tied at a run apiece. The game is being televised on the SEC Network. The Bulldogs are trying to salvage a game in the series, the Gators having taken the first two. UPDATES: No scoring in the eighth; MSU up in the top of the ninth... Amanda Lorenz hits a two-out, two-run homer for Florida in the bottom of the tenth, for a 3-1 Gator win . No. 2 Michigan easily swept Maryland, as the Wolverines extended their winning streak to 10 games. No. 3 Auburn rebounded from a mid-week doubleheader split with No. 8 Florida State to sweep Georgia . After dropping its series opener to Kentucky, No. 4 Alabama took games two and three to win the series .

No. 5 Louisiana (Lafayette) fell flat in its attempt to join the nation's most elite teams, getting swept in a three-game non-conference series at No. 1 Florida. The Gators won by scores of 5-1, 14-1, and 3-0 this weekend. No. 2 Michigan* likewise scored a sweep , topping Ohio State by scores of 8-0, 5-1, and 5-3. Though the Buckeyes were not nationally ranked, they brought a 9-1-1 conference record into Ann Arbor. In Sunday's game, televised on the Big Ten Network, Ohio State center-fielder Taylor White did all she could to keep her team in the game. White hit an inside-the-park homer and made two spectacular catches (one running toward left on a deep fly and the other charging in to snag a blooper ). OSU led 3-2 in the fifth inning, but UM's Tera Blanco came up with two runners on and drilled a shot to the one place White couldn't track it down -- over the fence . No. 3 Auburn annihilated Arkansas with three straight run-rule shutouts: 21-0, 23-0, and 10-0. ...

This weekend's top series is a non-conference match-up, as Florida hosts Louisiana (Lafayette). A series preview is available here .

Sierra Lawrence, who hit a two-run homer in the top of the seventh Saturday for insurance runs in No. 1  Michigan's 4-1 win over Nebraska, crushed a two-run, seventh-inning home run again on Sunday ( video via Twitter) to give the Wolverines an 8-6 lead, which held up. Michigan thus took the series two games to one, after Nebraska had taken Friday's opener . As fervent a Michigan fan as I am, even I don't think the Wolverines are the No. 1 team in the nation. It's going to take more than the one series loss Florida suffered last week to Alabama for me to believe the Gators should be dethroned.