Two winners' bracket games today... TEXAS TECH-UCLA Texas Tech (where I've been on the faculty for 28 years) and UCLA (where I did my undergrad work) about to get started. One potential factor is that some UCLA hitters will have faced TTU's NiJaree Canady when she was at Stanford in the two previous years, when the two schools were still in the Pac 12... Taylor Tinsley starting for the Bruins against (presumably) Canady... T1, Raiders down 1-2-3... T6, Tech leads 2-1 on a fifth-inning steal of home as the catcher throws ball back to pitcher ( video ) and sixth-inning homer by Hailey Toney ( video ), compared to the Bruins' one run on a Kaniya Bragg fifth-inning homer, as Bragg goes oppo on Canady high heat (73 mph) and sends a clothesline shot just over the RF wall... UCLA goes quietly in B6... Tech adds a run in T7 to increase its lead to 3-1... Bruins in B7 with runners on first and second and one out, full count on batter... Pitch that may have been high called for s...

Two elimination games today... MISSISSIPPI-OREGON Ole Miss scored three in the top of the seventh -- including on a two-out, two-run single -- to tie its game with Oregon 5-5, but the Ducks scored on a walk-off walk in the bottom of the 10th to win 6-5 ... FLORIDA-TENNESSEE Florida is in extreme jeopardy of being sent back to Gainesville and the Gators' contest with Tennessee is not even a full inning old. Batting in the bottom of the first, Tennessee had taken a 6-0 lead before even one Volunteer batter was retired. It's now 7-0 with one out... Gators get a nice infield double play to end the first... Not much drama as Florida wins 11-3 by run rule after five innings... With the No. 3-seeded Gators eliminated, the field is now missing the Nos. 1, 3, 4, 5, and 8 seeds...

The 2025 Women's College World Series is underway!  OREGON-UCLA I couldn't stay up for this late-night contest, as the evening schedule was delayed by rain and also there were also outages in the field light system. UCLA beat Oregon 4-2 with a walk-off two-run homer, as summarized in this article . Video clips are embedded within the article. MISSISSIPPI-TEXAS TECH Finally underway after a weather delay! Ole Miss up first as the visitors... The Lubbock radio station that broadcasts the major Texas Tech sports has sent the person who calls men's basketball and baseball to broadcast the game, to show you the local interest! NiJaree Canady one strike away from striking out the side, facing her opposite number in the circle, Aliyah Binford. Binford swings and misses to end T1... Still scoreless (and hitless) heading into T3. Binford (having allowed HBP and walk) not as dominant as Canady, but no worse for wear... Rebels again go down quietly... B4, Lauren Allred gets first hit ...

We have four games today, all decisive Game 3's, to determine the remaining teams in the Women's College World Series... Georgia-Florida Gators' (home team) run in first inning -- from three singles -- continues to hold up... UF continues to lead 1-0 after three and a half... Gators with eight hits in three innings but only one run!... This game has been in a weather delay for a while, but has resumed... B4, Florida with two walks to open the half-inning, but doesn't score... Bulldogs batting T5... B5, Gators with two-out, two-run homer by Rylee Holtorf ( video ) to get a cushion, leading 3-0... Florida now up 5-0 T6... T7, Georgia down to final at-bats... Infield error and UGA homer cut Bulldogs' deficit to 5-2... Next two batters retired... Line single up the middle... Force at second ends it, Gators advance to WCWS... Mississippi-Arkansas Now underway... Ole Miss with four in T1, but Arkansas with bases loaded on three walks, one out, in B1... K for second out......

Seven games today, one a deciding Game 3 (Clemson-Texas) and the other six featuring teams trying to close out two-game sweeps and advance to the Women's College World Series. Below are my summaries and comments on the ongoing games... Liberty-Oregon GAME 2 (Oregon leading one game to none) No drama here -- Ducks take it 13-1 to advance to WCWS... Alabama-Oklahoma GAME 2 (Oklahoma  leading one game to none ) Just underway... Sooners scoreless in T1, Crimson Tide batting in B1... OU gets a T2 run via small ball (walk, walk, single)... B2, double and walk give Bama two runners with one out... K for second out... Full count on next batter... Swing and miss to end Bama threat... T3, Sooners' Gabbie Garcia with line shot into the right-field bleachers for two-run homer and 3-0 lead... Now 9-0 Oklahoma, still T3... 13-2 is your final, as the Sooners head to another WCWS... Georgia-Florida GAME 2 (Florida  leading one game to none ) Unseeded Georgia gets solo homers in first and seco...

All eight series have games today. The two winners from last night, Texas Tech (over Florida State) and Clemson (over Texas) will try to earn slots in the Women's College World Series. Below are my summaries and comments on the ongoing games... Liberty-Oregon GAME 1 The Flames, who conquered national No. 1-seeded Texas A&M last week in the regionals, and No. 16-seeded Ducks (home team) are underway... Oregon wins 3-2 in eight innings, as line single drives in runner from third ( video )... Alabama-Oklahoma GAME 1 In this all-SEC matchup, the No. 2-seeded Sooners (home team) lead the No. 15-seeded Crimson Tide 2-0... OU with a leadoff double B5... Two-out single makes it 3-0 Sooners... No further scoring, as OU takes the series opener... Georgia-Florida GAME 1 In the early game, No. 3-seeded Florida  defeated unseeded Georgia 6-1 in this all-SEC contest... Mississippi-Arkansas GAME 1 The unseeded Rebels (visitors) lead No. 4-seed Arkansas 9-5 in another matchup of SEC rivals, a...

The 2025 super-regionals are underway. ESPN.com has a nice preview of them ( link ). Two games are on tap for tonight, No. 12-seed Texas Tech at No. 5-seed Florida State, and No. 11-seed Clemson at No. 6-seed Texas... All series are two-out-of-three to get to the Women's College World Series... Clemson-Texas After a long weather delay -- including lightning strikes -- the Tigers (visitors) and Longhorns are underway... B1, Texas goes up 1-0 when runner on first scores on a bunt that Clemson throws away ( video )... No further scoring in the inning... T3, Tigers tie game 1-1 based on two singles and an infield error... With bases loaded and one out, Clemson double (with outfield error added in) drives in two, 3-1 Tigers... Fly-out to right doesn't advance runners, now two outs... K to end Clemson rally... B3, Mia Scott answers with solo shot for Longhorns, now 3-2 Clemson... B5, single, followed by a double to the wall in left give Horns two runners in scoring position with none...

It was a late night on Saturday, with five of the regionals playing elimination games beyond midnight Eastern. The chart at the bottom shows what we're left with for Sunday. In each region, there's an undefeated team that needs only one win to advance to the super-regionals and a one-loss team that must beat the undefeated team twice. All other teams have been elminated. Of note, five national seeds have lost at least once heading into Sunday, including No. 1 Texas A&M who has one loss and No. 10 LSU who is gone. Below are my comments on the games... NO. 1-SEED TEXAS A&M VS. LIBERTY GAME 1: Liberty (home team) with early 1-0 lead over No. 1 Texas A&M B2... Flames add a run B2 to lead 2-0... Now 6-0 Liberty... A&M (trailing 6-1 after three) closes to within 6-2 T4... Word of Texas A&M's demise is premature. Aggies end up with six runs in T4 to lead 7-6. After two were out in T4, A&M gets single, single, HR, and HR before Flames get the final out... Ag...

The NCAA tournament brackets were released on Sunday and, as an annual traditon here at the College Softball Blog, I have mapped out where teams are coming from to participate in the 16 regional sites. As shown below, each regional contains four teams, with the one nationally seeded team (seed number in parentheses) hosting (you can click on the graphics to enlarge them). Play in the double-elimination regionals begins Friday. The big question is whether Oklahoma (No. 2 national seed) can make it five national titles in a row at the Women's College World Series. The SEC, into which Oklahoma and Texas moved this year, was absolutely loaded. Fourteen out of the SEC's 15 softball-playing schools made the NCAA field and seven of the eight top national seeds are from the SEC (No. 5 seed Florida State is from the ACC). The SEC standings -- with Oklahoma (17-7), Texas A&M (16-7), Texas (16-8), and Tennessee (15-9) in a logjam at the top -- show that no team went unscathed. Even...