Skip to main content

2025 Season Is Nearly Upon Us

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 Cornhuskers' 2024 opener. Nebraska is ranked No. 16 in the preseason poll.
  • This season is also Year 1 of major conference realignment. Oklahoma and Texas have left the Big 12 for the SEC. UCLA (No. 6), Oregon (No. 23-tied), and Washington have left the Pac 12 for the Big Ten (B1G),* Arizona (No. 17) has joined the Big 12 to take on Oklahoma State (No. 4), Texas Tech, and a bunch of other schools, and Cal (No. 21) and Stanford (No. 23-tied) have joined, of all leagues, the Atlantic Coast Conference. Long-distance travel will be a major issue for the B1G and ACC. Several B1G teams (here and here) will play conference games in Oklahoma City in March, ostensibly to reduce travel and have a warmer-weather site for that time of year.

The biggest tournament of opening weekend appears to be the NFCA Leadoff Classic in Clearwater, Florida. Canady and Bahl will be there with their respective teams, as will other traditionally strong teams such as Tennessee (No. 5), Duke (No. 8), Missouri (No. 15), and Northwestern (No. 20).

---

*USC also moved to the B1G, but the Trojans do not field a softball squad.

Popular posts from this blog

Pitching Star NiJaree Canady Reportedly in the Transfer Portal

Stanford pitching ace NiJaree Canady has reportedly entered the transfer portal ( link ), having completed two seasons in the circle for the Cardinal. Stanford has made the WCWS in both of Canady's seasons on the team. Another school hit hard by the transfer portal is the University of Washington, with an exodus of eight Huskies . This list of the top ten players in the portal includes four from UW. Today is the final day of the 30-day window for players to enter the portal.
Read more

NiJaree Canady Transferring to -- of All Places -- Texas Tech

NiJaree Canady, whose sub-1.00 ERA helped lead Stanford to the Women's College World Series in both her years with the Cardinal, announced on July 24 that she is transferring to Texas Tech. I've lived in Lubbock for 27 years and can say that the town has been improving with a greater selection of restaurants and shops, and a new downtown performing arts center. Likewise, nice new facilities have been dotting the Texas Tech campus . Still, it seems unlikely that Canady would have become a Red Raider without the $1 million annual Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) deal for her, made possible by the donation of a Texas Tech alumni couple. So stunning an event is this, even in the ever-changing world of collegiate athletics, that the New York Times  even ran a behind-the-scenes story on Canady's path to Texas Tech. I look forward to being in the stands to watch Canady pitch next spring, an opportunity I never expected to have.
Read more

2024 WCWS -- Day 6

Oklahoma has kept its quest for a fourth straight WCWS title alive with a 6-5 eight-inning win over Florida to advance to the championship round. The Sooners will take on Texas in a two-out-of-three series beginning Wednesday night. Florida held a 5-2 lead after three innings and looked well on its way to beating OU for the second straight day, which would have eliminated the Sooners and taken the Gators to the final round. However, UF scored no further runs, whereas Oklahoma chipped away with two in the fourth, one in the sixth, and one in the eighth. The final run came via Jayda Coleman's opposite-field walk-off home run to lead off the bottom of the eighth.  Sooner starter Kelly Maxwell went the distance, allowing only four hits. Three of those hits were home runs within the first three innings; the only other Gator hit was an infield single in the top of the sixth. Maxwell also walked five and struck out eight. Florida starter Keagan Rothrock also went the distance, allowing 1...
Read more