As virtually any reader of this blog would know already, NCAA college softball -- and all other winter and spring sports -- is over for the remainder of the 2019-20 academic year. In a March 12 announcement, the NCAA canceled all remaining national championship events under its jurisdiction, including the Women's College World Series , due to the worldwide Coronavirus outbreak. Prior to that announcement, many conferences had cancelled regular-season games and/or conference-championship events. As a practical matter, once the NCAA national championships were canceled, there was seemingly no purpose in trying to play any regular games, even if the Coronavirus threat were to diminish. Hence, the season is over. Presumably, there will be further news developments regarding college softball and other sports, such as details over how athletes who played partial seasons (such as softballers) will receive a full or partial year of extra eligibility to make up for their lost opportunit...

Texas has just edged Michigan , 1-0, with a double, sac bunt, and sac fly in the sixth. The Longhorns go to 2-1 in the Garman Classic, having lost to Fresno State earlier Saturday, and beaten Washington on Friday.

The 14-team Judi Garman Classic gets underway today in Fullerton, California. The nation's No. 2, 3, and 4 teams according to the latest ESPN.com/USA Softball poll -- Washington, Texas, and LSU -- are participating in the Garman . The only other ranked teams from this poll in the field  are No. 11 Michigan and No. 24 Texas Tech. LSU edged Texas Tech 6-5 this afternoon. The Red Raiders rallied for three runs in the top of the seventh to tie the game, only to have the Tigers score a run to win in the bottom half of the inning... With the win over Texas Tech, LSU avoided what would have been an embarrassing 0-2 start in the Garman Classic, as the Tigers dropped their opener to Loyola Marymount...  Tech, on the other hand, goes 0-2, losing also to host Cal State Fullerton. *** Before Texas joins the field at the Judi Garman Classic, however, the Longhorns are playing tonight at No. 1 UCLA. A gametracker is available here . Texas leads 2-1 at the moment (6:40 pm Pacific),...

UCLA stands at 15-0 this season, after going unscathed at the Mary Nutter Classic. However, this past weekend's wins did not come easily for the Bruins. Both of UCLA's Saturday games, vs. Wisconsin and Florida, went to extra innings .

The annual Mary Nutter Classic in Cathedral City, California (near Palm Springs) gets underway today ( tournament website ). The 30-team field (29 college teams plus the US Olympic team) is heavy on Pac 12 teams. Except for Stanford, all of the conference's softball-playing schools will be in the Nutter Classic (Arizona, ASU, Cal, Oregon, OSU, UCLA, Utah, Washington). In the latest ESPN.com/USA Softball poll, the Bruins are ranked No. 1 in the nation, Washington No. 2, and Arizona No. 5. Top participating teams from the rest of the country (with their ranking in the same poll) include Oklahoma (No. 3), Florida (No. 9), Missouri (No. 19), and Mississippi State (No. 24).

With UCLA trailing Florida State 2-1 in the top (Bruin) half of the seventh, two out and two on, Aaliyah Jordan drives one to the wall in left ( video ). If caught, FSU wins, but the ball pops out of the fielder's glove as she collides with the wall. UCLA takes a 3-2 lead and that's how it ends . Bruins now 11-0 on this young season, Seminoles 7-4.

A fifth-inning UCLA error ended the possibility of a perfect game for Bruin pitcher Megan Faraimo and an Alabama single in the sixth took away a possible no-hitter, but Faraimo was nothing short of dominant in No. 2 UCLA's 7-0 win over Alabama in the St. Pete Clearwater Elite Invitational ( play-by-play , game story ). The Bruin sophomore walked none and allowed two hits total. The day before, No. 1 Washington fell to Alabama , 8-0 in a run-rule game. UCLA still has a tough road remaining in Florida this weekend -- facing Georgia, South Florida, and Florida State -- but if the Bruins can take all three (or perhaps even two of three), they should be No. 1 in next week's polls.

Alabama, which was No. 1 in some of the national preseason polls, went 1-3 in its opening weekend.

The 2020 pre-season polls are out. There are now at least five such polls: ESPN.com/USA Softball, USA Today/NFCA, FloSoftball, Softball America, and D1 Softball (see links section for particular polls). Four polls are consistent in having Alabama and Washington in the top two, some with the Crimson Tide atop and others with the Huskies. FloSoftball takes a different approach, saying that "UCLA remains at the top until a team knocks them off the mountain. We know that Rachel Garcia and Bubba Nickles are irreplaceable. Losing the duo to Team USA is bittersweet but we do know the Bruins are still loaded with an explosive offense and promising pitching." Just as the polls are in general consensus regarding their top two, most agree on the No. 3-5 teams: Oklahoma, UCLA, and Arizona (in different orders). The 2020 season begins play on Friday!

Michigan coach Carol Hutchins, along with two co-authors, has an editorial in the New York Times , noting improvements in girls' and women's opportunities to play sports, but no such improvement in coaching and athletic administration ( link ).