With the most recent ESPN.com/USA Softball poll (Week 2) showing eight of the Top 10 teams being from the SEC (No. 1 Texas, No. 2 Oklahoma, No. 3 Florida, No. 5 LSU, No. 6 Texas A&M, No. 7 Tennessee, No. 9 Georgia, and No. 10 Arkansas), it's very tempting to just wait for SEC conference play to begin. At that point, the teams will be playing three-game series against each other, which will be a better gauge of the teams' relative standing than some early-season tournaments. At this point, we have only a fragmentary sense of how good these teams are. Texas is off to an 11-0 start, but narrowly survived visiting Texas Tech and NiJaree Canady in a 2-1, nine-inning win on February 14. With Canady not pitching for the Red Raiders in a rematch two days later, however, the Horns  romped 11-0 in a five-inning rule-run decision.  OU is 10-0, but have been taken to extras against unranked San Diego State and Long Beach State. Florida is 13-1, with the Gators' loss coming last ...

This weekend's Clearwater Invitational includes four Top 10 teams, namely No. 4 UCLA, No. 5 Texas A&M, No. 9 Florida State, and No. 10 Oklahoma State. ESPN.com's preview, which provides an overview for all 16 participating teams, is available here .

Several big stories surround the opening of the 2025 college softball season, which begins tomorrow for many leading teams. Can Oklahoma make it five Women's College World Series national championships in a row? I recognize only a few names on the Sooners' 2025 roster . On NCAA.com's list of 10 players to keep an eye on , only one is from OU (Ella Parker, No. 8). Oklahoma is ranked No. 3 in the preseason ESPN.com/USA Softball poll , behind No. 1 Texas and No. 2 Florida. NiJaree Canady, the star pitcher who transferred from Stanford to Texas Tech with a million-dollar Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) deal , is No. 1 on the NCAA.com list. The Red Raiders have never before been a major national contender, but that could change this year, as the team is ranked No. 10 in the ESPN.com/USA Softball poll. Another star transfer pitcher, Jordy Bahl, is scheduled to return for Nebraska . After transferring last year from Oklahoma to Nebraska, Bahl suffered an ACL injury in the Cornhus...