The college softball world has thrown us a "Curve Bahl," if you will. Such is the unexpected news that Oklahoma ace Jordy Bahl has announced that she will transfer to the University of Nebraska, Lincoln. Bahl is from the Omaha suburb of Papillion, Nebraska. Three thoughts jump out at me: Bahl was absolutely indispensable to the Sooners' 61-1 national championship season, coming up with numerous clutch strikeouts in tight tournament games against Clemson (super-regionals, Game 2 ) and Stanford ( WCWS semifinals ).    OU benefited greatly this season via the transfer portal, bringing in Haley Lee  from Texas A&M,  Alex Storako from Michigan, and Cydney Sanders and Alynah Torres from Arizona State. Bahl's transfer is the first major one in the modern portal era (to my knowledge) in the other direction. Nebraska becomes an instant national championship contender, in my mind. Other players around the country may find it attractive to join Bahl in Lincoln but even i...

Game 2 will be getting underway shortly... The Sooners are one game away from not only winning their third straight NCAA championship but also from setting a record for fewest losses in a championship season (a potential 61-1 record), which would replace the 1992 UCLA squad's mark of 54-2... Kathryn Sandercock, who was held out last night, is starting for the Seminoles... Top 1 -- OU goes down 1-2-3... Bottom 1 -- Sooners start Michigan transfer Alex Storako in the circle... Storako greeted by single from FSU's Kaley Mudge... Second batter bunts, OU 3B-person throws ball into center field trying to get Mudge at second... Seminoles with runners on first and second and none out... OU does not allow a lot of scoring opportunities, so Florida State really has to capitalize when it can (especially with Storako [1.06 K/inning] not being as much of a strikeout pitcher as Jordy Bahl [1.31])... Liner to 3B for first out... Hard grounder back to Storako, bobbled briefly, so only play ...

Game 1 of the championship round between Oklahoma and Florida State is in a weather delay... There was an estimate of a half-hour delay, which would have the game start around 7:30 Central... An updated starting time is around 8:10 Central... It will be Mack Leonard pitching for FSU and Jordy Bahl for OU... ESPN.com had an interesting article this morning about how Seminoles star Kathryn Sandercock has been pitching fewer innings this season to avoid burning her out... Top 1 -- Florida State will be the visitors for this game... The Noles go down 1-2-3. Bottom 1 -- After OU's leadoff hitter flies out, another weather delay is announced, possibly because of a lighting strike in the area... Action resumes, with the next two Sooners being retired to end the inning... Top 2 -- Michaela Edenfield with a sharp liner up the middle for a single... Next batter strikes out swinging after 3-0 count (3-1 pitch questionably called a strike)... 6-4-3 double play to end FSU half-inning... Bot...

We're down to four teams. Oklahoma (no losses) and Stanford (one loss) will face off at 11:00 am Central. An OU win puts the Sooners directly into the championship round, whereas a Cardinal win would force a winner-take-all rematch shortly following the first game. Florida State (no losses) takes on Tennessee (one loss) in the evening session, starting at 6:00 pm. The Seminoles need one win to reach the championship round, the Volunteers two...  In the evening session, Florida State looking like it will join Oklahoma in the championship round, leading Tennessee 5-1 B6... The Vols with a bit of a rally, however, with runners on first and second and two out... K to end the inning... T7, FSU runner trying to steal home called out on video review after initially being called safe; score remains 5-1 Seminoles going to B7... UT down to its final three outs... K for first out... Fly to CF for second out... Easy flare to SS for third out... Florida State to championship round... Kylie Chun...

Two elimination games are scheduled for today: Stanford vs. Washington, in an all-Pac 12 matchup (2:00 pm Central, ABC) and Oklahoma State vs. Tennessee (6 pm, ESPN2). Oklahoma State and Tennessee underway, scoreless as the Cowgirls bat in the top of the second... A two-out walk gives OSU runners at first and second... Full count... Soft pop-up to pitcher ends Cowgirl threat... Tennessee SS Mackenzie Donihoo with nice catch going back into shallow left ( video )... Still scoreless as Vols come up B3... Walk, steal, and Zaida Puni oppo double score first run, UT leads 1-0... Walk and single increase Vols' lead to 2-0 . Lexi Kilfoyl replacing Kelly Maxwell in the circle for Cowgirls... Tennessee with runners at second and third with one out... Walk to load bases... Grounder back to pitcher, gets force at the plate... Another grounder to the pitcher, this time she throws batter out at first... T4, OSU two-out rally, with single and double but runner thrown out at the plate ... Tennes...

Florida State has defeated Washington 3-1, to remain the only other unbeaten team (besides Oklahoma) at the WCWS... The Seminoles scored two in the bottom of the second and then each team added a run in the sixth... The Huskies mounted a threat in the top of the seventh, with the first two batters getting singles; however, a fly-out and line-out double-play (featuring a snare up in the air by Florida State SS Josie Muffley) ended the game... Oklahoma has struck fast in its winner's bracket showdown with Tennessee, as Tiare Jennings socks a two-out three-run homer for a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the second ( video )... Kinzie Hansen adds a two-run shot B3, making it 5-0 Sooners ( video )... 9-0 is your final...

Utah looks likely to be the second team going home, as it trails Oklahoma State 8-0 after two innings... No further scoring, as the Cowgirls win 8-0 via run-rule (five innings)... The first team that will be going home from the WCWS is Alabama, which managed only one hit in a 2-0 loss to Stanford. Along with allowing no runs and limiting the Crimson Tide to one hit, the Cardinal combination of Alana Vawter (5 1/3 innings) and NiJaree Canady (1 2/3 innings) did not walk anyone.   Utah and Washington finally underway after being delayed from last night. UW is the home team. During the Pac 12 season, the Huskies took two of three from the Utes in Seattle, with all three games being close... T2, with one out, Utah gets one of the strangest doubles you'll ever see, as Haley Denning's bunt-chopper through the middle of the infield bounces over pitcher and by two infielders; once Denning arrives at first and sees no one covering second, she takes off (can't find video of this pl...

The 2023 Women's College World Series is underway. Today's schedule features a quadruple  triple-header of action. Due to weather delays and lateness in the evening of the Florida State-Oklahoma State game completion, the Washington-Utah game has been delayed until Friday afternoon... Game 3 between Oklahoma State and Florida State is in a weather delay... Game starts, with OSU going scoreless in top of first... B1, FSU's Michaela Edenfield blasts no-doubter two-run homer to left ( video ), 2-0 Seminoles... T2, Cowgirls threatening with runners on first and second and one out... Pop to SS for second out... Foul-out near left field to end threat... T3, one out... Another weather delay (minimum 40 minutes) due to lightning in the area... Florida State wins 8-0 in a six-inning, run-rule outcome... Game 2, between Stanford -- with ace pitcher NiJaree Canady going -- and Oklahoma -- starting Jordy Bahl in the circle --  is scoreless after one... Still scoreless after three...

Only two series remain to be decided today, San Diego State vs. Utah and Alabama vs. Northwestern. Results of the other six super-regionals appear in the chart below and are discussed in previous postings. Northwestern-Alabama underway, with Jaala Torrence in the circle for the Tide... NW gets leadoff batter on base on slow infield dribbler... Passed ball advances runner to second... K for first out... Fly to left for second out... K to end Wildcats' half of the first... Danielle Williams is the starting pitcher for NW... Leadoff walk... Bama runner bunted over to second... Grounder to Williams, runner trying to advance from second to third caught in rundown but high throw lets runner safely get back to second; batter safe at first on fielder's choice... Fly to shallow center for second out... Another fly to similar part of the outfield ends Tide threat... T2 Wildcats with one-out walk... Nothing comes of it... Game suspended B3 due to apparent weather warning (lightning within...

As shown in the chart below, two series are over and six teams will be trying today to clinch their spots in the Women's College World Series... Washington vs. Louisiana-Lafayette just underway. Huskies lead series 1-0... Ragin' Cajuns threatening with runners on first and second B1 with two outs... K looking to end inning... Very tight game, with no scoring until U-Dub puts one across on a sac-fly in T6, 1-0 Huskies... ULL with a runner on second in B6 after single and one-out steal of second... Fly to right for second out... Up to Stormy Kotzelnick to keep Cajuns' rally alive and possibly score... 1-2 count... Fly to left ends inning... Per ESPN announcer, ULL is 0-for-8 with RISP... T7: Huskies add (potential) insurance run on steal of home ( video ), for 2-0 lead... ULL down to final at-bats to keep its season alive... One out on hard grounder (one-hopper?) to third and throw to first... Full count on second batter... Pop to SS, Cajuns down to last out... Full count aga...

All eight super-regionals are active today, six that are just starting and two that began last night (Florida State-Georgia and Oklahoma State-Oregon). I'll comment on the games and list the winners in the chart below... Evening games from western part of the country -- San Diego State at Utah and Louisiana-Lafayette at Washington -- are now getting underway. San Diego State with 2-0 lead over Utah in the first... Utes come back and take 3-2 lead in second ( video of third run )... Aztecs batting in T4, with runners at the corners and none out... A.J. Murphy double to the wall in right-center drives in two but Murphy thrown out at third trying to stretch double ( video ), now 4-3 SDSU... Single and error fielding grounder keep Aztec inning alive, with runners at first and second and two out... Single to left too shallow to drive in run but does load the bases for SDSU... Mac Barbara, with amazing career-OPS around 1.200, now batting... K to end threat... Still 4-3 Aztecs going to T...

Two of the eight super-regional series -- Georgia at Florida State and Oregon at Oklahoma State -- get underway tonight. I'll be keeping track of the results in the chart below and commenting on the games. In the chart, (-) denotes an unseeded team. Oregon at Oklahoma State Now getting underway... Ducks leave runner on second in T1... Leadoff single for Oregon T2... Runner sacrificed to second and then singled in, 1-0 Ducks... Soft pop back to pitcher ends threat... Leadoff single by Cowgirls B2... Rare 5-4-3 double-play to end OSU threat... B4, Cowgirls' Kiley Naomi socks a solo-shot to tie game 1-1 ( video )... One-out rally continues, as walk and double give Cowgirls runners on second and third... Grounder back to Oregon pitcher, who indecisively throws home. erratically, now 2-1 OSU... Bloop hit to left, just out of reach of Duck SS, makes it 3-1 OSU... Still only one out, runners on first and second... Walk to load bases for OSU... Nothing further, as Cowgirls pop out and ...

With one exception (the Tennessee regional, which experienced weather delays), all regionals are down to two teams (see chart below). Within each pair of teams, one enters today's play with no losses and the other has one loss. Given the double-elimination format, the undefeated team in each pair needs only one win to advance to next weekend's super-regionals, whereas the one-loss team must defeat the undefeated team twice. Final game of the day, the deciding contest between No. 7 Washington and McNeese State (with Cowgirls as home team), coming down to dramatic finish...McNeese up 6-0 heading into UW's final at-bats in T7; three straight hits with none out make it 6-1, sac-fly to CF makes it 6-2; another single, misplayed in OF, makes it 6-3 with batter going to second; walk brings tying run to the plate. Wondering how long McNeese will stick with current pitcher, as other starter warms in bullpen. Grounder for force at 3B (second out); Huskies down to last strike... Gr...

No. 2 UCLA and Liberty playing an elimination game, tied 1-1 in top (Liberty) half of seventh... Flames with go-ahead run on second with one out... K for second out... Single to left drives in apparent go-ahead run for Liberty. Runner called safe at plate (see video ), close call being reviewed... Call is upheld, so 2-1 Flames... Bruins making change in the circle, Megan Faraimo in for Brooke Yanez, who went 6  2/3... UCLA error on grounder to third keeps Liberty rally alive with runners on first and second... 3B-person redeems herself by snaring Liberty liner for third out... Bruins coming up for quite possibly their final at-bats of the season... UCLA scored in first on Megan Grant homer, but has been held scoreless for the next five innings... Full-count on Bruins' lead-off hitter in the seventh, Anna Vines... Strike-three called on pitch at outer edge of plate... Nice catch in left on short flare for second out... UCLA down to last out in the person of Arizona transfer Janelle ...

Tournament action will shortly be underway. During the first two days, I tend to focus on upsets. As teams begin to be eliminated, I will be adding charts to document which teams are still alive... NCAA.com has a nice page consisting of tournament scores, schedules, and links ... How's this for an upset? No. 2 seed UCLA falls at home to Grand Canyon, 3-2 ( play-by-play sheet ). All of the Antelopes' runs come on a three-run shot by Madison Schaefer in the fourth inning ( video ), giving GCU a 3-1 lead at the time. Megan Grant was part of both Bruin runs, singling one home in the bottom of the third and delivering a solo homer in the bottom of the fifth. Then, in the bottom of the seventh, with UCLA having a runner on base and Grant thus representing the winning run at the plate, GCU gets her to pop up for the final out ( video ). The Bruins are still alive under the double-elimination format, but have no room for error from this point on in the regional... No shockers thus far ...

With this year's NCAA women's softball tournament beginning Friday, it's time for my annual geospatial maps of where the 64 teams have been sent to play. As shown below, all the teams in a given four-team regional are color-coded in the school colors of the nationally seeded, host team. The seeded team in each region is also indicated by the adjoining seed number in parentheses.  Oklahoma is clearly the prohibitive favorite, sporting a 51-1 record. The Sooners have a reasonable chance, in my view, to break the record for fewest losses en route to a Women's College World Series title, currently held by the 1992 UCLA Bruins with a  54-2 record . And OU's dominance covers far more than just the current season. Oklahoma has won the last two WCWS, four of the last six, and five of the last nine, one of the best runs in the modern history of women's collegiate sports . As NCAA.com writer Michella Chester asks , "Who on this planet Earth can compete with the reig...

Several conference championship games are taking place today. I don't know that any of the ones in the major conferences will affect whether a team gets into the NCAA tournament field but winning a conference tourney may give a team a little momentum. NIGHTCAP A two-run blast by Aaliyah Jordan in the bottom of the first ( video ) puts No. 2-ranked UCLA up 2-0 on No. 17 Utah in the Pac 12 championship game. Jordan's launch-angle was as close to 90 degrees (almost straight upward) as I've seen on a home run... Utes respond with a Karlie Davison solo-shot in the top of the second ( video ), cutting Bruin lead to 2-1... With the teams deadlocked 4-4, Utah pulls away for a 7-4 victory. This great catch in center ( video ) in the bottom of the fifth, followed by a run-scoring double ( video ) and two-run homer ( video ) in the top of the sixth, are the difference, as the Utes take the inaugural Pac 12 tournament. AFTERNOON GAMES In a game being televised live only on ESPN+, two n...

Oklahoma swept Oklahoma State this past weekend in Stillwater, advancing the Sooners' record to 49-1 and 18-0 in the Big 12. Oklahoma faced one close call, in Game 2, trailing OSU 2-0 after six innings. No problem for the Sooners, who came up with four runs in the top of the seventh and then shut down the Cowgirls in the bottom half for a 4-2 win . OU now moves on to the conference tournament, followed by the NCAA tourney, still with a chance to set a new record for fewest losses in a season. The 1992 UCLA squad finished 54-2.

No. 1 Oklahoma avenged its only loss of the season -- a February 19 game against Baylor in a nonconference tournament -- by not only sweeping the Bears this weekend but not allowing a single run. The Sooners' three wins came by scores of 7-0 , 4-0, and 2-0 . No. 7 Texas swept a three-game series from No. 3 Oklahoma State, with first-year Longhorn catcher Reese Atwood coming up with walk-off hits in Games 1 and 2. In Friday's series opener, Atwood's eighth-inning single drove home the game's only run, giving Texas a 1-0 victory .  Then on Saturday, in the first game of a doubleheader, the Longhorns trailed 2-0 as they came up to bat in the bottom of the seventh. It was Atwood again, delivering a three-run bomb ( video ) to give Texas a 3-2 win. In both Friday's game and Saturday's first game, Cowgirl pitchers had taken no-hitters into the bottom of the seventh. Saturday's second game wasn't as dramatic, with UT completing the series sweep by a 5-2 score. ...

No. 1 Oklahoma, which needed a late comeback in the middle game of its series with No. 8/9 Texas, routed the Longhorns 10-2 in run-rule fashion Sunday to sweep the three-game set. Meanwhile, No. 3/4 UCLA swept three from No. 6 Stanford. The Bruins' Aaliyah Jordan hit a pair of homers during the series and, according to the linked article, is 7-of-14 since her return from injury.

Texas is off to a 1-0 lead over Oklahoma heading to the bottom of the second in Game 2 of the teams' three-game Big 12 series. Some slick Sooner infield defense prevents the Longhorns from scoring more in the second... Still 1-0 Horns in the top of the fifth. UT starter Mac Morgan has allowed only two hits and two walks in four shutout innings... Texas with runners on the corners with one out in the top of the fifth after an infield single and a bunt on which the toss to first goes awry... More great OU defense leads to an apparent threat-ending double-play, but whether throw to first really beat the runner is being reviewed... Replay suggests runner was safe at first, which would allow UT run to score from third... Call of out at first officially overturned, 2-0 Longhorns... 3-1 Texas heading into bottom of the sixth... Long single to right to lead off for OU... ESPN graphic shows that Sooners have won 50 straight home games, a streak very much on the line... Horns retire lead r...

With college basketball's March Madness going on, I only have time for some brief softball items at this point: No. 1 Oklahoma continues to roll along, advancing to 30-1 with a three-game sweep at Iowa State this past weekend to begin Big 12 play. The Sooners outscored the Cyclones by a cumulative 26-3, but the opener was a close 3-0 decision. OU will host No. 8/9 Texas in a three-game series this weekend. Talking about Texas, the Longhorns swept Texas Tech (where I teach) over the weekend. The Red Raider program has experienced extensive coaching turnover in recent years, but has fared well this season under new coach Craig Snider . Texas Tech completed its nonconference slate with a 26-8 record, including wins over ranked Maryland and Texas State. And even though the Raiders lost all three games at Texas, two were by one run (3-2 Friday and 4-3 Saturday). Sticking with the Big 12, No. 2 Oklahoma State (29-2) swept Baylor by scores of 6-5 (11 innings), 5-0 and 5-1. In the SEC, No....

ESPN.com presents the opinions of several softball experts -- a roundtable in writing -- on key trends one month into the 2023 season ( link ). Who are the most impressive teams so far? Which teams need to raise their game? Who are the breakout players? Take a look to see the answers to these and other questions!

When UCLA loses, it loses big! The No. 2 Bruins (25-2) have only two losses on the season thus far, but both have been of the run-rule variety. The first was a 14-0 loss to No. 1 Oklahoma in the Mary Nutter Classic two weeks ago. The Sooners are going to make a lot of teams look bad, so this UCLA loss, while surprising, was not shocking.  The Bruins' second run-rule loss, which came 8-0 (5 innings) to Cal in the middle game of the teams' three-game series, is truly shocking! The Golden Bears tied for last in the Pac 12 last year. Cal appears to be improved this season, with an overall 18-6 record so far. One conceivably could imagine the Bears beating the Bruins in a game. But run-ruling them? UCLA ace Megan Faraimo pitched briefly in relief in the Bruins' loss, giving up, consecutively, a single, double, single, and homer in the third inning and recording only one out. UCLA did win the first (4-0) and third (10-1, 6 innings) games of the Cal series, though. No. 3 Oklaho...