No. 2 UCLA headlines the field at this year's Judi Garman Classic, as the Bruins (17-1) look to bounce back from their 14-0 shellacking at the hands of Oklahoma last Sunday. The only other Top 25 teams in the ESPN.com/USA Softball poll traveling to Fullerton, California for the Garman Classic are No. 15 LSU and No. 20 Oregon. The other squads in the 12-team field are Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, Cal State Fullerton, Central Florida, Fresno St., Loyola Marymount, Michigan, Minnesota, San Jose St., and Seattle. Each team will play five games in the tournament.
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 if