I'm a bit late getting on the blog, sorry. UCLA (the home team tonight) leads 3-1, with all the scoring via solo homers: UCLA's first two batters of the evening, Bubba Nickles and Briana Perez slug back-to-back homers, giving the Bruins a 2-0 lead. It could have been a lot worse for Oklahoma, as UCLA loaded the bases on an infield single (actually, an error), double (by the suddenly power-hitting Brianna Tautalafua), and walk, but with two outs, the Sooners' Shay Knighten grabbed a hard grounder down the line -- which potentially could have driven in two runs -- and got the final out. Sydney Romero homers for OU in the top of the third, to cut Sooners' deficit to 2-1 (she also led off the game with a double ). UCLA SS snared a hard liner on the play before, otherwise Romero's blast could have been a two-run homer. Aaliyah Jordan homers for UCLA in the bottom of the third to make it 3-1. Bruins also load the bases in the inning, but don't score further....

Oklahoma is the home team against UCLA in Game 1 of the championship round. UCLA Top 1st: Aaliyah Jordan gives the Bruins a quick 1-0 lead with a two-out homer . OU Bottom 1st: Nothing. UCLA T2: Nothing. OU B2: Shay Knighten goes yard to even things up, 1-1... As shown in this video , there's a yellow ribbon lining the top of the outfield fence all around, and the ribbon gets dislodged around where Knighten's ball landed. At first I thought the ball itself glanced off the ribbon and barely left the field. However, after looking over the replay a few times, it appears that the UCLA outfielder knocked off the ribbon and Knighten's ball went at least a few feet beyond the fence. UCLA T3: The tie doesn't last long. A combination of UCLA singles and OU errors gives the Bruins a 3-1 lead . However, UCLA strands a runner on third. OU B3:  One-out triple to right for Grace Lyons. Probably would have been a single or double, but UCLA right-fielder misplays the ball....

If you don't want to read all of the lengthy notes below, it will be UCLA vs. Oklahoma in the championship series, beginning Monday night! Oklahoma   vs.   Alabama  Act II:  Now underway, with OU as the home team... Whereas the Sooners have stuck with G. Juarez as their pitcher, the Crimson Tide is going with Krystal Goodman in place of Montana Fouts... That was fast: Walk to Romero and double by Clifton to right-center gap give Sooners a run in bottom of the first. 1-0 OU... Wild pitch advances Clifton to third... And another wild one brings her home. 2-0 OU... Inning ends... Reagan Dykes hits a one-out solo shot to get Bama on the board in the top of the second. 2-1 OU... After giving up another long fly ball -- this one caught for second out -- Juarez is removed in favor of Mariah Lopez... Bama's Claire Jenkins lays down a bunt. Lopez fields and throws to first, only one problem: No one covering the bag. Tide with runner on second... Fly out ends half-inning...

It's "Survival Saturday," pitting one-loss teams, so that each of the four games will eliminate someone. In the nightcap of this very long day, Alabama and Arizona are scoreless as the Crimson Tide bats in the top of the third... Bama has runners on first and second for slugger Bailey Hemphill with two outs... Hemphill smokes a liner to the left-center gap, making it 2-0 Tide... Bottom 4: A walk and a single give the Wildcats runners on first and second, with one out... A walk loads the bases for Reyna Carranco... K (after two balls to start) for second out... Hemphill with nice snare of liner for third out. Still 2-0 Tide... Bottom 7: Still 2-0... Arizona down to its final out of the season, with a runner on first... K to end the game. Alabama stays alive, Arizona eliminated. Washington vs. Oklahoma State are now underway in the day's third game. OSU's Chyenne Factor robs UW of two-runner homer in bottom of second... No score, with the Cowgirls batting in th...

Friday night's winners' bracket doubleheader pits UCLA and Arizona in the first game, and local " Bedlam " favorites Oklahoma and Oklahoma State in the second. Oklahoma strikes fast vs. Oklahoma State in the nightcap, a Jocelyn Alo single driving in two runs , with only one out... 2-0 Sooners... Grounder up the middle, bobbled by SS, leaves runners on the corners... Shay Knighten with a bloop/liner for a single up the middle, making it 3-0 for OU... Cowgirls finally get out of the inning... OSU bounces back for a run in the bottom of the first, driven in on a Michela Richbourg single ... 3-1 OU... Been awhile since I last updated, due to many uneventful innings and a delay due to the lights on one of the towers going out. Sooners add three runs in the top of the sixth, making it 6-1 for OU ... That's your final. UCLA bats first as the visitor in the first game. The Bruins get a two-out line single to right in the top of the first. HBP gives UCLA two runners.....

In the nightcap, Oklahoma is threatening against Alabama in the bottom of the first, with none out. With runners on the corners, a potential squeeze play (or delayed double-steal) lets the OU runner on first get to second, whereas the runner on third gets back to the bag when it looked like she might be picked off... Caleigh Clifton's sac-fly to center brings Sydney Romero home from third. 1-0 Sooners... Ground-out to second advances runner to third, with two outs... Walk puts runners on corners again... Foul-out near right-field line ends the inning... Top 3: After leadoff single, runner advanced to second on bunt (batter out), then next batter beats out bunt (replay shows runner probably out at first, but no replay review system has yet been adopted). As a result,  Bama has runners on the corners with one out.    K for second out... Bailey Hemphill with bloop single to right, tying game 1-1, again leaving runners on the corners... K to end the threat... Bottom 3: Romero...

With all the other super-regional series having wrapped up Saturday, the only action is today's deciding game between SEC rivals Tennessee and Florida. After a Florida run  in the first inning , the game remains scoreless until the seventh... With the Vols down to their final three outs in the top of the seventh trailing 1-0, Haley Bearden homers to tie the game 1-1 ( video )... Nothing doing for UF in the bottom of the seventh, so we're going to extras... Nothing for Tennessee in the top of the eighth... Florida gets a one-out double from Amanda Lorenz... An intentional walk to Kendyl Lindaman brings up yesterday's Gator hitting star, Hannah Adams... Two quick strikes on Adams... Hard ground-out to first advances the runners to second and third... Rather than another intentional walk to create a force at every base, Tennessee will pitch to Jaimie Hoover... Hoover lines the ball into the defensive "vacuum" in left-center ( video ), giving Florida the win (2-1...

A very long day of softball is now over (past midnight in the Central and Eastern time zones). There will only be one game Sunday, as all the other super-regionals have been decided... In Saturday's nightcap, Washington leads Kentucky 1-0, as the Wildcats come up in the bottom of the fifth... Noelle Hee's two-run shot in the top of the sixth gives the Huskies some cushion, 3-0... And U-Dub still not done in the inning, with runners on second and third and two out... UK escapes further damage... Bottom 7: Kentucky down to final three outs, as Washington leads 5-0... And that's how it ends... Huskies headed to WCWS. Tennessee plates an early run vs. Florida... Still 1-0 Vols, as Gators bat in the top of the third... Bottom 4: Line single to left with two on by Tennessee's Madison Pacini gives Vols a 2-1 lead, with runners now at the corners and one out... K (taking) on 3-2 pitch for second out... Another K (swinging) minimizes the damage done by Tennessee... Top 5:...

Six super-regional series begin today, with two having started yesterday. Check back for updates to the chart (below) and comments on the games. Oklahoma has put a run on the board in the bottom of the first against Northwestern... The Sooners add a couple more for a 3-0 victory . Minnesota has put up a four-spot in the bottom of the fourth to lead LSU 5-3... No further scoring, as the Gophers hold off a Tiger threat in the top of the seventh (runners on first and second) to take Game 1. Florida leads Tennessee 2-0, bottom three... Gators add another run for a 3-0 victory . Florida State, looking to stay alive, leads Oklahoma State 4-1 in the top (Seminole) half of the fifth... No further scoring, as FSU forces a decisive third game . Arizona and Mississippi are tied 2-2, with the Wildcats batting in the bottom of the fourth... Arizona pulls away for 5-2 victory. Texas rallied from an early 4-0 deficit to beat Alabama 7-5 and even up the teams' series... ESPN.com re...

Two of the eight super-regional series begin today: Texas at Alabama, and Oklahoma State at Florida State. The full schedule is available here . All games will be televised on ESPN, ESPN2, or ESPN-U. I will follow the outcomes in the following chart. Teams Game 1 Game 2 Game 3 Oklahoma (1) vs. Northwestern (16) Alabama (8) vs. Texas (9) Alabama Florida (5) vs. Tennessee (12) Florida State (4) vs. Oklahoma State (13) Okla St. Washington (3) vs. Kentucky (14) Arizona (6) vs. Mississippi (11)  Minnesota (7) vs. LSU (10) UCLA (2) vs. James Madison (unseeded) Oklahoma State has taken the opener of its series at Florida State, 3-1 in nine innings. Michaela Richbourg's two-run homer ( video ) in the top of the ninth proves to be the difference. Alabama leads Texas 3-0 in these teams' opener, with the Longhorns coming up in the top of the sixth... No further scoring, as t...

ESPN-W has a great resource page for following the tournament ( link ). It has write-ups summarizing each of the regionals, along with listings of results and upcoming games in each regional.

My annual geospatial map of where the 64 NCAA tournament teams were assigned for regional play is now available. The version above is just a static photo; click  here  to be able to click on the various icons for further information as a Google Map. Each set of four teams with the same icon (e.g., a Crimson "Tide" for the Alabama site, or a blue "Cat" for the Arizona site) are playing in the same regional. Also, the icons for the University of Washington and Seattle University (both in the Washington regional) and for Harvard (Arizona regional) and Boston University (Florida regional) largely overlap each other, so it may be hard to see both. The top four seeds -- Oklahoma (1), UCLA (2), Washington (3), and Florida State (4) -- are not surprising, given the national polls during the regular season. As discussed in this ESPN-W preview , Florida (5) may be a little high and Alabama (8) may be a little low in some observers' eyes. One thing that surprised m...

Michigan has defeated Minnesota 3-2 to take the B1G tournament. The key play occurred with the Gophers batting with two outs in the bottom of the sixth, with the potential tying run on second. The Wolverines' Lexie Blair snares a hard-hit liner to left to end the inning ( video ). The runner appears in the video to not quite have reached third when the ball got to Blair, so it's possible she might not have scored even if the ball landed for a hit. Here's the final out  of the game, an inning later. Arizona, which arrived in Los Angeles having lost four of its last five (including being swept by Washington), quickly righted the ship by taking two of three from the Bruins. Inclement weather brought the Big 12 tournament to a premature end on Friday. According to this article on the University of Oklahoma athletics website, "Because all pool play games were not finished, the Big 12 will not name a postseason champion this year. The conference's automatic bid to...

Washington has taken the first two games in its series at Arizona, 2-1 on Friday and 3-1 on Saturday, to ensure a series win. The third game is Sunday. UPDATE: Huskies complete the road sweep . Elsewhere in the Pac 12, UCLA dropped the opener of its series with Stanford Friday by a 2-1 score. However, the Bruins won on Saturday, 7-4, to even things up and set up a deciding game Sunday. UPDATE: Bruins take series .

No sooner had I written about the University of Arizona's dominating start to Pac-12 play (see previous post ) than the Wildcats dropped a Saturday decision at Cal , 1-0 in nine innings. U of A  won the other two games of the series to improve its conference record to 17-1. As I noted in the previous post, series with Washington and UCLA await Arizona. *** The hard-luck team of the weekend has to be Texas Tech. The Red Raiders were swept three straight against Oklahoma State in Stillwater. All three games were decided by one run: 3-2, 8-7, and 6-5 on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, respectively. On Saturday, Tech led 7-0. OSU tied the game in the fifth inning on a two-out, two-run triple. The play could have been a lead-preserving out had the two Raider outfielders not collided with each other and jarred the ball loose from one of the mitts. In the sixth, the Cowgirls scored the go-ahead run on a one-out, bases-loaded grounder through the pitcher's legs . If the ball or th...

The University of Arizona has moved up in the national rankings to anywhere from No. 3 to No. 5 , depending on the specific poll. The reason is very clear: The Wildcats' 15-0 record in Pac-12 play, nearly all by blowout margins. Granted, U of A has not yet faced its two toughest conference opponents, UCLA and Washington. Still, what Arizona has done so far is very impressive. The following chart (which you can click to enlarge) shows the score and opponent in each of the Wildcats' Pac-12 games in each little "softball," plotted along the horizontal axis according to Arizona's margin of victory. In these 15 conference games, U of A has scored an average of 9.53 runs, while allowing 0.93 runs, on average. For the season overall -- in which Arizona is 38-7 -- several players have compiled gaudy statistics . Offensively, I consider the two most important statistics to be slugging percentage and on-base average . Combined, they yield OPS (on-base plus...

Oklahoma, which ascended to the No. 1 spot in the national polls after UCLA dropped one of three to Oregon a week ago, has taken the first two games of its Big 12 series with Texas. Scores of the Sooners' two wins over the Longhorns were 3-1 on Thursday and 4-3 (8 innings) on Friday . OU's Game 2 win over Texas had a particularly wild finish, regarding both how the Sooners scored their two runs in the top of the eighth to break a 2-2 tie, and the Longhorns scored one run but were denied a tying second run in the bottom half. A play-by-play sheet is available here . In short, in the top of the eighth, Oklahoma went up 3-2 as Sydney Romero tagged up from third on a liner to right that was caught, barely getting her hand on the plate. Then, while the Longhorns were arguing the call, Fale Aviu, who began the play on second base, came home, to make it 4-2. In the bottom half, UT put together a pair of two-out hits -- by Kaitlyn Slack to center and M. K. Tedder to left -- each ...

No. 1 UCLA lost to Oregon  Friday by a 4-3 score in the opener of a three-game series. It was only the Bruins' second loss of the season. UCLA came back to take the final two games of the series, 8-3 on Saturday and 8-1 on Sunday. In the finale, the Bruins put up seven runs in the bottom of the sixth inning , on a three-run homer and a grand slam . How often is a three-run homer not a team's most productive hit of an inning?

Oregon-transfer Miranda Elish, shown getting ready to pitch to Heaven Burton, threw a complete-game shutout, as Texas downed Texas Tech, 2-0 , in the opening game of a three-game series in Lubbock. Elish allowed five hits and no walks, and struck out six. The Red Raiders' Missy Zoch blanked the Longhorns in six of the seven innings she pitched. She gave up the only two runs of the game in the top of the sixth inning on a walk, single, two fielder's-choice plays, another walk, and a hit-by-pitch. Zoch allowed three hits and two walks, and struck out seven. GAME 2: Texas Tech grabs 3-2 walk-off win on Saturday to even the series. GAME 3: Elish comes back on Sunday with two-hitter to give Longhorns a 2-0 win and the series. (UT pitched Shealyn O'Leary and Brooke Bolinger in Saturday's game.)

Texas Tech has arguably been the surprise team of 2019. After several years out of the national rankings and spotlight, the Red Raiders darted off to a 27-2 start this season against nonconference opponents, including wins over Auburn, Arizona State, and Oregon. This start lifted Texas Tech to a No. 12/14 national ranking (depending on which poll). This past weekend, Big 12 conference play began and Tech happened to draw the No. 2/2 Oklahoma Sooners to town to open league play. OU features a senior class of players such as Aviu Falepolima, Caleigh Clifton, Shay Knighten, and Sydney Romero, who were major contributors to the Sooners' 2016 and 2017 Women's College World Series champions. Clearly, Oklahoma would provide a major yardstick to measure just how far Texas Tech had come. The results of the series -- a Sooner sweep by scores of 5-1, 8-3, and 13-1 -- tell us that the Red Raiders aren't quite ready to be, say, a Top 5 team nationally. On a positive note, Saturday...

...and the Bruins win the opener of the three-game series, 3-0. Game 2, as well, goes to UCLA, 4-2 , as pitcher Rachel Garcia hits a two-run homer in the top of the eighth (with a full-count and two outs). Make it a sweep for UCLA, as the Bruins get a 15-6 run-rule win over the Huskies. All is not necessarily lost for Washington, however. A year ago, UCLA also swept U-Dub, yet the Huskies ended up getting further in the Women's College World Series (second to Florida State) than did the Bruins! *** Elsewhere, Florida State took two of three from Notre Dame in ACC play (the linked article has an apparent typo, as FSU is 2-1 in conference play, not 1-2). Winning each series is what teams are supposed to do. However, the Seminoles have now dropped three of their last eight, after their torrid 22-0 start, leaving their current overall record at 27-3.

No. 7 Tennessee should move up in the polls after taking two out of three on the road at No. 4 Florida over the weekend. No. 1 Florida State concluded its five-game swing through Arizona,  taking two of three at U of A. The Seminoles' record on the trip was 3-2, also including a doubleheader split at Grand Canyon.

No longer is Florida State undefeated. The Seminoles lost the opening game of a Wednesday doubleheader to unranked Grand Canyon, before taking the nightcap. FSU continues its swing through Arizona by taking on the U-of-A Wildcats in a three-game series beginning Friday.

Michigan has followed up Friday's stunning upset win over UCLA with another on Sunday, namely over Washington . Not bad for a team that arrived at the Judi Garman Classic unranked, with a losing record. (Full disclosure: I attended graduate school at Michigan.) Saturday's slate was cancelled due to weather issues.

Michigan, which entered the tournament unranked with a 6-8 record, has just handed No. 2 UCLA its first loss of the season, by a 3-1 score. The Wolverines' Meghan Beaubien at one point retired 14 straight Bruins . Earlier in the day, UCLA recorded its second straight win over Florida , this time 4-0.

The annual Judi Garman Classic at Cal State Fullerton gets underway today (with the exception of last night's opening UCLA-Florida contest). Top squads in the 14-team field include UCLA, Florida, Washington (ranked No. 5 or 6 in the national polls), and Tennessee (ranked No. 7).

In a scheduling oddity (to me at least), Florida travels to Fullerton, California to play UCLA tonight. The two teams will then play each other again Friday in the Judi Garman Classic in the same location. The latest ESPN.com/USA Softball and USA Today /NFCA polls agree in ranking UCLA ( 14-0 ) No. 2 nationally, and Florida ( 18-0 ) No. 3. (Flo Softball's website lists old rankings.) UPDATE. Tonight's Round 1 of the Florida-UCLA match-up goes to the Bruins , 7-1.

The marquee match-up of this year's Mary Nutter Classic pitted UCLA (No. 2/3 nationally depending on which poll) vs. Oklahoma (No. 2/4 in different polls). The result was a 7-1 Bruin win . Texas Tech, this year's up-and-coming program after seven years being unranked, acquitted itself well at the Nutter (full disclosure: I'm on the Texas Tech faculty). The Red Raiders raised their record to 13-0 with wins in their first three games, including shutouts of Top 20 clubs Arizona State  and Oregon . However, Texas Tech's success against Pac-12 opponents came to an end on the final day, with a 4-1 loss to No. 5/6 Washington.

The annual Mary Nutter Classic begins today in Cathedral City, California, near Palm Springs. The field includes 28 collegiate teams and three non-collegiate squads (Team Japan, ScrapYard Fastpitch, and National Pro Fastpitch [NPF] All-Stars). Among the college teams, the three headliners are  UCLA (ranked No. 2 or 3 in each of the three national polls), Oklahoma (ranked No. 2 or 4), and Washington (ranked No. 5 or 6). The Bruins and Sooners will face each other Friday at 6:00 pm Pacific. The school at which I teach, Texas Tech, is ranked No. 23 and 25 in two of the polls -- the Red Raiders' first appearance in the rankings in seven years -- and will be participating in the Mary Nutter Classic. The Red Raiders are 10-0 on the season and have wins over Auburn, Wisconsin, and Nebraska (twice). These have all been NCAA tournament-caliber teams in recent years. Tech will face a challenging set of games in Cathedral City, including against ranked Pac-12 teams Arizona State, Orego...

No. 1/2 Florida State (depending on which poll) continues to impress, going undefeated at the St. Pete/Clearwater Elite tournament. The Seminoles' weekend included wins over No. 2/3  Oklahoma , No. 6/7  Tennessee , and No. 5/7/8 LSU . No. 9/11/12 Texas, which won three of four in the Elite (losing to LSU), looks to be an up-and-coming team. Two former Oregon stars, pitcher Miranda Elish (rhymes with relish) and utility/designated-player Lauren Burke, followed coach Mike White to Austin, boosting the Longhorns' chances. Both were granted waivers by Oregon, so can play without sitting out a year .

A newcomer to the college softball tournament landscape, the St. Pete/Clearwater Elite debuts this weekend, with extensive television coverage on the ESPN Family of Networks. The 16-team field includes 12 squads ranked in the Top 25 of at least one major poll (USA Softball/ESPN.com, NFCA/USA Today, Flo Softball). Florida State is either No. 1 or 2 in each poll, whereas Oklahoma is either No. 2 or 3. Tennessee and LSU fall within the No. 5-10 range, whereas Texas is on the edge of the Top 10. Oklahoma State, Kentucky, Oregon, Ohio State, Notre Dame, James Madison, and Minnesota are ranked anywhere from No. 16-25 in at least one poll.

The 2019 college softball season is now underway, with the usual myriad of tournaments. Two of the three preseason polls place defending national champion Florida State in the top spot, as shown in the following table. Rank USA Softball/ESPN NFCA/USA Today Flo Softball 1 UCLA Florida State Florida State 2 Washington UCLA Oklahoma 3 Florida State Washington Washington 4 Oklahoma Oklahoma UCLA 5 Florida Florida Florida 6 Arizona Georgia Arizona 7 Georgia Arizona South Carolina 8 Tennessee Tennessee Georgia 9 South Carolina Alabama (Tie-9) Tennessee 10 LSU S. Carolina (Tie-9) Michigan One o...