ESPN-W summarizes the key facts for the eight teams that will be playing in the Women's College World Series. ESPN has a video feature on the Romero sisters, Michigan's Sierra and Oklahoma's Sydney. It has apparently been running on television for over a month, but I didn't catch it until yesterday. With the Wolverines and the Sooners both making the WCWS, the feature remains highly topical!

Game 3 of the UCLA-Oregon super-regional, the final game of a long day, is underway... Duck ace Cheridan Hawkins, who did not pitch Game 2, comes out rusty in the top of the first. A walk, a single, and an airmailed throw to third on the single give UCLA a 1-0 lead... Selina Ta'amilo, who pitched Game 2, goes again in Game 3 for the Bruins... Jenna Lilley leads off Oregon half with base-hit... UCLA can't handle Nikki Udria's bunt, putting runners on first and second... Another bunt (on which UCLA gets out at first) puts Ducks on second and third... Bruins make a quick pitching change, bringing in Paige McDuffee... K for second out... Janelle Lindvall at the plate, HBP to load bases ("Ducks on the Pond")... Lauren Lindvall up, flies out to right, ending threat... UCLA adds a run in the fourth , making it 2-0... Oregon gets a run in the bottom of the seventh and puts the tying run at second with two outs, but can't get the equalizer... UCLA wins 2-1 to advance

Once again, we have our super-regional board (below), documenting the winner of every game. Game articles are available by clicking on the highlighted school names... Already on Saturday, LSU has evened its series with James Madison at a game apiece, by a 2-0 margin... In the decisive Game 3, LSU leads JMU 1-0, as the Dukes bat in the bottom of the second... "Good" times for James Madison as Megan ties it up in bottom of fourth... LSU with a rally going in the top of the fifth -- one run in, bases loaded, one out. Megan Good replaces Jailyn Ford in the circle after three walks in inning... Sac-fly to deep center, all runners advance, making it 3-1 Tigers... Dukes' 2B Madyson Moran makes great catch running out to shallow center to snag blooper; saves a run or two! Moran leads of bottom of fifth with single to center... HBP with one out puts runners on first and second... Runners then advance on WP/PB (not sure which)... Ground out holds runners... Another grounder,

I'll be updating the following table all weekend, as results from the super-regionals come in... Already, we have one shocker, as No. 16 Georgia shutout No. 1 Florida on Thursday night. The two-time defending national champion Gators now have no room for error, as they must sweep two games from the Bulldogs today. James Madison gets a walk-off win over LSU in Game 1 of their series ( video ). Florida in serious jeopardy of a stunning elimination, as the Gators trail Georgia 1-0 in Game 2, top (Florida) half of the fifth... Gators get runners on first and third with one out in top of fifth... HBP on an 0-2 pitch loads the bases... Another hit batter (on a 1-2 count) ties the game... Ground-out to first plates go-ahead Gator run... Grounder to short ends half-inning with 2-1 UF lead... UGA goes down scoreless in bottom of fifth... Nothing for Florida in the top of the sixth... Nothing for Georgia in the bottom half, either... Scoreless top of seventh for Gators... Last chance

ESPN.com's Graham Hays previews the super-regionals . Each super-regional series will be played over two days (a single game on Day 1, with a double-header on Day 2 if a decisive third game is needed). As detailed here , two series will be played on Thursday-Friday (Florida-Georgia, Oklahoma-Louisiana Lafayette); three will be played on  Friday-Saturday (Alabama-Washington, James Madison-LSU, Florida State-Utah); and three on  Saturday-Sunday (Michigan-Missouri, Auburn-Arizona, Oregon-UCLA). For many of these teams, making the super-regionals is old-hat. The super-regional format is now in its twelfth year, having been introduced in 2005 . Here are the teams with the longest continuous streaks of making the supers: Alabama, made it all twelve years Oklahoma, seven straight Oregon, seven straight Louisiana-Lafayette, five straight Florida State, four straight UCLA, three straight LSU, two straight Auburn, two straight And some impressive near-continuous stre

The following table shows the status of each regional. The "2-0" and "2-1" column headings reflect teams' records  entering  Sunday's play (with the exception of the Columbia, Missouri regional, which started a day earlier). Under the double-elimination format, the "2-1" team had to beat the "2-0" team twice on Sunday to advance.  Teams in bold (with game-article links) have advanced to the super-regionals. Region 2-0 2-1 Eliminated Eliminated Gainesville, FL Florida (1) C. Florida Fl. Atlantic Alabama St. Ann Arbor, MI Michigan (2) Notre Dame Miami (OH) Valparaiso Norman, OK Oklahoma (3) Ole Miss Wichita St. Tulsa Auburn, AL Auburn (4) Jacksonville St. SC Upstate Oregon St. Eugene, OR Oregon (5) Baylor Long Beach St. Baylor Tuscaloosa, AL Alabama (6) Cal Texas St. Samford Harrisonburg, VA J. Madison (7) Longwood N. Carolina Princeton Tallahassee, FL Florida St. (8) S. Carolina S. Florida Florida A&M Lexington, KY Utah Ke

Only two of the 16 seeded teams have stumbled thus far in the NCAA tournament. Thirteen seeded teams are undefeated and on pace to win their respective regionals. No. 15 Missouri has already won its region, which started a day earlier than the other ones. No. 9 Kentucky fell to Utah by a 3-0 score. The Utes (2-0) face a rematch with the Wildcats, who rebounded with a win over Illinois   Butler in the losers' bracket. Utah needs but a single win to advance to the super-regionals, whereas Kentucky would have to beat Utah twice. In Knoxville, it was O'Toole Time* as Arizona's Danielle O'Toole nearly pitched a perfect game  in the Wildcats' 4-0 win over No. 13 Tennessee. The Vols will play Ohio State at noon (Eastern) Sunday, with the winner getting a crack at Arizona. The Wildcats will need just one win to advance, whereas whichever team ends up being U of A's opponent will need to win twice. An NCAA bracket that updates after each game is available  here

The 64-team field and 16 regional hosts for this year's NCAA tournament were announced tonight ( link ). The No. 1 and 2 seedings of Florida and Michigan, respectively, were no surprise, even with each losing in its respective conference tournament ( SEC , B1G ). Oklahoma at No. 3 caught me a little off-guard. The Sooners had been ranked fifth and tied for fourth in the most recent national polls, did not compile a particularly stunning nonconference resume (notwithstanding a single win over Alabama), and played in a conference, the Big 12, which was down this year. Anyway, below is my annual plotting of where teams are headed in the NCAA tourney. Each map depicts five or six of the regions, for optimal visibility. I have used a new method to create my maps this year, thanks to the free plotting website BatchGeo . First is a map of the Alabama, Auburn, Florida State, James Madison, Kentucky, and LSU regional sites, each with its own color code (see bottom of map). Teams in th

Auburn's pitching has struggled lately, to say the least. In the Tigers' final two regular-season SEC series, against Tennessee and Texas A&M, Auburn gave up an average of 9 runs per game ! Kaylee Carlson was certainly not the only Auburn pitcher having difficulties, but her performance April 30 at Tennessee vividly illustrates the Tigers' pitching woes. In that game, Carlson lasted only t wo-thirds of an inning , allowing 6 walks, 3 hits, and 8 earned runs. Fast forward to today. In Auburn's SEC semifinal match-up with national No. 1 Florida, Carlson didn't give up an earned run as the Tigers upset the Gators 2-1. Earlier in the day, Auburn beat Alabama 6-4. LSU, a 3-1 winner over Tennessee in the other semifinal, will play Auburn in Saturday's final.

Auburn righted its ship a bit, edging Texas A&M , 5-4, to end the Tigers' four-game SEC losing streak. Elsewhere in the conference, Georgia salvaged one win in its three-game series with Alabama, beating the Tide 9-5 today. The SEC will play a conference tournament, beginning on Wednesday; the bracket is available here . The Pac 12, which doesn't have a conference tourney, will close out its regular season next weekend. With nine schools fielding softball squads, one team always gets a bye from conference play. Next week, it will be UCLA (16-5-1), which is done for the regular season. Barring some unlikely developments, the Bruins will finish second in the conference to Oregon (17-3). The Ducks host Utah for three games next weekend and, should UO get swept, its winning percentage (.739) would fall slightly below UCLA's (.750, counting a tie as half a win). Both the Ducks and Bruins have been very hot of late. Before losing to Cal yesterday, Oregon had won 10 straig

Lots of televised softball this weekend, as the SEC and B1G conclude their respective conference seasons and head into conference tournaments next weekend... No. 6 Auburn, which lost a pair of games a week ago to Tennessee by 10-2 and 12-1 scores, and then lost last night's series-opener to Texas A&M, 6-5 in 8 innings, continues to struggle. Today, the Aggies have bolted out to a 4-0 lead in the top of the first... A&M's Erica Russell homers to lead off the top of the second, making it 5-0... Tigers battle back for four in bottom half; leave bases loaded. Emily Carosone gets Auburn-record 262nd career hit during this inning... Auburn scores two in bottom of third to lead 6-5... A&M threatening in top of fourth, with runners on first and second, one out... Wild pitch and infield hit tie game 6-6... Three-run homer by Samantha Show gives Aggies 9-6 lead... Cali Lanphear goes deep, back-to-back, now 10-6... The final score is 13-6 Aggies. No. 4 Alabama, which had

Auburn will probably drop from its current No. 3 national ranking in both polls, following a pair of run-rule losses to Tennessee on Sunday. Knoxville rainstorms played havoc with what was supposed to be a three-game series, delaying games and ultimately forcing the cancellation of Monday's Game 3.