Alan's College Softball Blog

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NCAA Regional Saturday (2026): Possibly the Most Amazing Bottom of the Seventh Ever!

T8: NiJaree Canady, who struggled early in the game, back in to pitch, after Texas Tech's miracle B7... Ole Miss goes ahead 9-8 in T8 on single, sac bunt, and single... Nothing further for Rebels, as Raiders come up in B8... B8: Kaitlyn Terry leads off for TTU with four-pitch walk... Jackie Lis up, 2-0 count... 3-0... Another four-pitch walk... Jasmyn Burns coming up, pitching change for the Rebels... 2-0 to Burns... Foul fly for first strike... Called strike, 2-2 count... Burns with flared single to center, now tied 9-9, runners on first and second with none out... Fly out to deep center, lead runner advances to third... Taylor Pannell sac fly to right-center wins the game 10-9... Per ESPN stat, Tech is first team since 2000 to win NCAA tournament game after trailing by 8+ runs; 640 teams had failed in that situation. This stat (probably) does not take into account that Red Raiders trailed by eight with two outs in bottom of seventh... Ole Miss led Texas Tech 8-0 with two outs in...

2026 NCAA Tournament Geospatial Maps and Preview

This year's NCAA softball tournament gets underway Friday. As is my annual tradition, I have created the following geospatial maps based on the regional assignments , showing which teams are traveling from where to the 16 regional sites. I would have thought winning the SEC regular-season title would have been enough to give Oklahoma the No. 1 national seed, the Sooners' loss in the conference tourney notwithstanding. Instead, the top seed went to Alabama, followed by No. 2 Texas -- even though the Longhorns beat the Crimson Tide 7-1 in the SEC tournament final. Alabama and Texas's draws appear below, with both teams looking like strong favorites to advance to the super-regionals. OU dropped to No. 3. where its main regional competition will likely be Michigan and Kansas, middle-of-the-pack teams from the Big 10 and Big 12, respectively. Nebraska, the Big 10 champion of the regular season (23-1) and tournament, comes in as the No. 4 seed. Star pitcher Jordy Frahm makes th...

Wrap-Up of Major Conference Final Regular-Season Standings (2026)

Regular-season conference play is over, with conference tournaments beginning this coming week. In reviewing final conference standings, let's start with the deepest conference, the SEC . National No. 1 Oklahoma took two of three at Texas A&M this weekend to finish 20-4 in league play (48-7 overall) and edge out national No. 3 Alabama (19-5, 47-6) for the SEC regular-season title. The Crimson Tide swept South Carolina to close out its conference schedule. Florida (17-7, 47-9) came in third. Behind the Gators was a three-way tie for fourth, fifth, and sixth, with Tennessee, Texas, and Texas A&M each finishing at 16-8. As some readers may recall, the defending Women's College World Series champion Longhorns began the season 31-1 overall, before experiencing the brutality of SEC competition. Texas finished the season 39-10, meaning the Horns went 8-9 in their final 17 games. A big story for the Sooners this season is the slugging of catcher Kendall Wells, who is in only h...

Oklahoma at Texas Sunday Afternoon (2026)

Texas, seeking to avoid a three-game sweep at the hands of Oklahoma, leads today's series finale 3-0 on a three-run homer by the Longhorns' Kayden Henry B2. Teagan Kavan in the circle for Texas, LSU transfer Sydney Berson for OU... Sooners get one of the runs back on an Abby Dayton solo-shot in T3, now 3-1 Texas... OU adds a run T4 on two singles and an error, cutting its deficit to 3-2 ... Horns threatening in B4 with runners on first and second and one out... Nothing comes of it... T5, Leighann Goode homer gives UT a little breathing room, 4-2 ... T6, single, passed-ball, and two sac-flies bring the Sooners within 4-3 ... B6, Katie Stewart homer restores Texas lead to two runs, 5-3 ... After OU rallied for two runs in T7 to tie the game 5-5 and then took a 6-5 lead in T8, Texas came up with three in B8 -- a lead-off solo-shot by pinch-hitter Hannah Wells and then a one-out two-run blast by Stewart -- to win 8-6 ... Highlights of the game are available here on YouTube ...

Oklahoma at Texas Highlights Saturday Night (2026)

Since I last posted, Oklahoma has taken over first place in the SEC with a 12-1 conference record (39-3 overall), two games clear of second-place Alabama (11-3) in the loss column. Texas, which started off the year 31-1, is currently on a three-game losing streak and fifth in the conference at 9-4 (32-5). Florida (13-4) and Texas A&M (10-4) are the other two teams ahead of Texas. The nationally No. 2 Sooners and No. 4 Longhorns began their three-game series last night in Austin, with OU prevailing 3-0. Oklahoma soph Audrey Lowry went the distance, striking out 4 and allowing 6 hits and only 1 walk. This Sports Illustrated article credited the defense behind Lowry. I'll be commenting on Game 2 of the OU-UT series, which has just come on the air on ESPN. Another sophomore, Miali Guachino, is starting in the circle for the Sooners... Bottom 1, Longhorns have taken a 1-0 lead on a one-out single up the middle by Viviana Martinez. A line-out double-play gets OU out of a jam... H...

No. 8 Florida Takes Two of Three From No. 1 Tennessee

In a game that just concluded on ESPN 2, Florida defeated Tennessee 3-2 to take the teams' weekend series two games to one (the Lady Vols took Friday's opener 2-1, whereas the Gators prevailed 5-2 on Saturday). UF looked to be in commanding position in today's game, leading 3-0 as the Lady Vols batted in the top of the sixth. However, Tennessee got a two-run homer from Gabby Leach to close to within 3-2 and then, in the top of the seventh, got its leadoff batter to second when the Florida left-fielder lost a routine fly in the sun. The Lady Vols couldn't get the runner home, however.

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