"Survival Saturday" it's called, and the concept is simple: You lose today and you're done for the season. The first two games (Texas A&M-UCLA and Oregon-Baylor) involve teams who lost their opening WCWS games on Thursday. Each survivor of an early Saturday game will play again later today, against one of the Friday losers (LSU or Washington). To help follow the action, I have the following chart. Commentary on each of today's games will appear below the chart.
| No Losses | One Loss | Two Losses (Gone) |
| Florida | Texas A&M | |
| Oklahoma | UCLA | |
| Oregon | ||
| Baylor | ||
| LSU | ||
| Washington | ||
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Texas A&M is the first team going home, after its 8-2 loss to UCLA. The Bruins will face Washington sometime later today...
Oregon leads Baylor 2-0 in today's second game, which is currently in a rain delay , with Baylor scheduled to be batting in the bottom of the second. The Ducks seem to be coping OK... It's now 3:45 pm Central and the game is set to resume in about five minutes... Oregon adds two runs in top of third, Baylor scoreless in bottom half, so it's 4-0 Ducks... ESPN graphic shows that Baylor's 3-4-5 hitters (Ari Hawkins, Shelby Friudenberg, and Shelby McGlaun) were collectively 0-12 in the WCWS, prior to last inning (now 0-13)... Baylor batting in bottom of the fifth, now trailing 5-0... HBP and bobbled grounder put Bears on first and second with none out (ruled an infield hit)... Oregon fielding follies continue -- throw to third on infield grounder, attempting to get force on leader runner, goes awry. Baylor scores (cutting Oregon lead to 5-1) and ends up with runners on second and third... Grounder retires batter for first out, but runners advance, scoring second Baylor run (5-2 Oregon) and bringing runner to third... Single makes it 5-3... Hawkins bunts (apparently trying for base hit); thrown out at first, but advances runner to second... Friudenberg gets first hit for "big three" in line-up, with sharp single to center. Runner scores from second, making it 5-4 Ducks... McGlaun strike-out ends inning... Two-out triple for Jenna Lilley, top 6, as Ducks seek insurance run... Oregon retired without scoring... Same for Baylor in sixth inning... Top 7: Ducks' lead-off batter reaches first on throwing error, bunted to second, singled to third... HBP loads bases with one out... Mia Camuso doubles to wall in left-center, bringing in two, to give Oregon 7-4 lead. Ducks with runners on second and third, just one out... K for second out... Short pop-up ends half-inning... Baylor coming up in bottom of seventh... Walk, single, and single load bases for Baylor, with no outs... Hawkins coming up. Tying run on base, winning run at the plate. Oregon pitching change: Maggie Balint out, Megan Kleist in... Hawkins down on called third strike (may have been a little low)... Friudenberg up with one out... Strikes out swinging, for second out... McGlaun is Baylor's last stand... Grounds out to pitcher... Final score: Oregon 7, Baylor 4... Bears eliminated... Ducks to play LSU late tonight...
UCLA and Washington underway, with Huskies batting in top of second, scoreless. U-Dub got lead-off runner on, bunted to second (one out)... Chopper to short, runner tagged out in rundown between second and third. Batter gets to first on fielder's choice, two down... K ends half-inning... More good D: Huskies' LF makes running catch in bottom of second... Bruin SS Delaney Spaulding makes another big defensive play, top 3. Lead-off single and passed-ball give U-Dub runner on second. Spaulding snares hard chopper, throws runner out at third. Huskies go quietly to end half-inning... Bruins go quietly in bottom of third, still scoreless... Top 4: Washington again gets lead-off hitter on first, but thrown out stealing... Bottom 4: UCLA gets lead-off walk, bunted to second (one out)... Runner to third on wild-pitch/passed-ball... K for second out... Rachel Garcia intentionally walked... Gabrielle Maurice, involved in controversial home-plate collision earlier today vs. Texas A&M, now trying to drive in run(s) for UCLA... Nice catch by Husky 3B-person on hard liner to end Bruin threat... U-Dub down quietly in top of fifth... In bottom half, UCLA gets two-out double to wall in right-center by Zoe Shaw... Spaulding strikes out (third time in this game) to end threat... Ali Aguilar leads off top of sixth for Washington with deep homer to right-field, not merely over outfield fence, but (apparently) over back fence of stadium... 1-0 Huskies... Bruins coming up, bottom 6, needing a run to tie the game... Two-out walk keeps UCLA at-bats going... Ground-out ends inning... Going to the seventh... Nothing doing for Washington, UCLA needs at least a run to stick around... Ground-out to deep short for first out... Nice catch out in right-center of UCLA flare, two out... Fly-out to deep center ends it... 1-0 Washington... Bruins eliminated...
Oregon's Gwen Svekis goes deep to give the Ducks a 2-0 lead over LSU, bottom 1... Shannon Rhodes adds a two-out double down the left-field line for Oregon... But K ends threat... LSU's Shemiah Sanchez goes solo to cut Ducks' lead in half, 2-1, top 2... Ducks add a run in the bottom of the third to make it 3-1, but leave the bases loaded with two outs... In the fourth, LSU failed to score on a first-and-third situation with one out, and Oregon did likewise with a runner on third with one out... Still 3-1 Oregon... Bottom 5: Two-out single, just eluding LSU 3B-person's glove, drives in Oregon run to increase lead to 4-1. Batter to second on throw home... Grounder to short; SS holds runner on second, but doesn't have time to throw to first, now two on... Ground-out ends Duck threat... Oregon wins 4-1, as last couple of innings go uneventfully... LSU eliminated...
On Sunday, Washington will be matched up with Florida. The Gators only need one win to advance to the championship round, whereas the Huskies must beat UF twice... Oregon is matched up with Oklahoma, with the Sooners needing only one win and the Ducks, two...
Texas A&M is the first team going home, after its 8-2 loss to UCLA. The Bruins will face Washington sometime later today...
Oregon leads Baylor 2-0 in today's second game, which is currently in a rain delay , with Baylor scheduled to be batting in the bottom of the second. The Ducks seem to be coping OK... It's now 3:45 pm Central and the game is set to resume in about five minutes... Oregon adds two runs in top of third, Baylor scoreless in bottom half, so it's 4-0 Ducks... ESPN graphic shows that Baylor's 3-4-5 hitters (Ari Hawkins, Shelby Friudenberg, and Shelby McGlaun) were collectively 0-12 in the WCWS, prior to last inning (now 0-13)... Baylor batting in bottom of the fifth, now trailing 5-0... HBP and bobbled grounder put Bears on first and second with none out (ruled an infield hit)... Oregon fielding follies continue -- throw to third on infield grounder, attempting to get force on leader runner, goes awry. Baylor scores (cutting Oregon lead to 5-1) and ends up with runners on second and third... Grounder retires batter for first out, but runners advance, scoring second Baylor run (5-2 Oregon) and bringing runner to third... Single makes it 5-3... Hawkins bunts (apparently trying for base hit); thrown out at first, but advances runner to second... Friudenberg gets first hit for "big three" in line-up, with sharp single to center. Runner scores from second, making it 5-4 Ducks... McGlaun strike-out ends inning... Two-out triple for Jenna Lilley, top 6, as Ducks seek insurance run... Oregon retired without scoring... Same for Baylor in sixth inning... Top 7: Ducks' lead-off batter reaches first on throwing error, bunted to second, singled to third... HBP loads bases with one out... Mia Camuso doubles to wall in left-center, bringing in two, to give Oregon 7-4 lead. Ducks with runners on second and third, just one out... K for second out... Short pop-up ends half-inning... Baylor coming up in bottom of seventh... Walk, single, and single load bases for Baylor, with no outs... Hawkins coming up. Tying run on base, winning run at the plate. Oregon pitching change: Maggie Balint out, Megan Kleist in... Hawkins down on called third strike (may have been a little low)... Friudenberg up with one out... Strikes out swinging, for second out... McGlaun is Baylor's last stand... Grounds out to pitcher... Final score: Oregon 7, Baylor 4... Bears eliminated... Ducks to play LSU late tonight...
UCLA and Washington underway, with Huskies batting in top of second, scoreless. U-Dub got lead-off runner on, bunted to second (one out)... Chopper to short, runner tagged out in rundown between second and third. Batter gets to first on fielder's choice, two down... K ends half-inning... More good D: Huskies' LF makes running catch in bottom of second... Bruin SS Delaney Spaulding makes another big defensive play, top 3. Lead-off single and passed-ball give U-Dub runner on second. Spaulding snares hard chopper, throws runner out at third. Huskies go quietly to end half-inning... Bruins go quietly in bottom of third, still scoreless... Top 4: Washington again gets lead-off hitter on first, but thrown out stealing... Bottom 4: UCLA gets lead-off walk, bunted to second (one out)... Runner to third on wild-pitch/passed-ball... K for second out... Rachel Garcia intentionally walked... Gabrielle Maurice, involved in controversial home-plate collision earlier today vs. Texas A&M, now trying to drive in run(s) for UCLA... Nice catch by Husky 3B-person on hard liner to end Bruin threat... U-Dub down quietly in top of fifth... In bottom half, UCLA gets two-out double to wall in right-center by Zoe Shaw... Spaulding strikes out (third time in this game) to end threat... Ali Aguilar leads off top of sixth for Washington with deep homer to right-field, not merely over outfield fence, but (apparently) over back fence of stadium... 1-0 Huskies... Bruins coming up, bottom 6, needing a run to tie the game... Two-out walk keeps UCLA at-bats going... Ground-out ends inning... Going to the seventh... Nothing doing for Washington, UCLA needs at least a run to stick around... Ground-out to deep short for first out... Nice catch out in right-center of UCLA flare, two out... Fly-out to deep center ends it... 1-0 Washington... Bruins eliminated...
Oregon's Gwen Svekis goes deep to give the Ducks a 2-0 lead over LSU, bottom 1... Shannon Rhodes adds a two-out double down the left-field line for Oregon... But K ends threat... LSU's Shemiah Sanchez goes solo to cut Ducks' lead in half, 2-1, top 2... Ducks add a run in the bottom of the third to make it 3-1, but leave the bases loaded with two outs... In the fourth, LSU failed to score on a first-and-third situation with one out, and Oregon did likewise with a runner on third with one out... Still 3-1 Oregon... Bottom 5: Two-out single, just eluding LSU 3B-person's glove, drives in Oregon run to increase lead to 4-1. Batter to second on throw home... Grounder to short; SS holds runner on second, but doesn't have time to throw to first, now two on... Ground-out ends Duck threat... Oregon wins 4-1, as last couple of innings go uneventfully... LSU eliminated...
On Sunday, Washington will be matched up with Florida. The Gators only need one win to advance to the championship round, whereas the Huskies must beat UF twice... Oregon is matched up with Oklahoma, with the Sooners needing only one win and the Ducks, two...