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.