Skip to main content

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 her first year of college. As shown in the following graph, Wells has 36 homers heading into the postseason.

She has already shattered the single-season homer record for first-years, 30, shared previously by OU's Lauren Chamberlain and Jocelyn Alo, and Hawaii's Kelly Majam, and the OU single-season record (regardless of year in school) of 34, held by Alo.

Next on Wells's to-do list is the NCAA single-season home run record of 37, set by Laura Espinoza of Arizona in 1995.

Over in the Big 12, last year's WCWS runner-up Texas Tech (21-3, 50-5) easily won the regular-season championship, with the No. 4 Red Raiders finishing five games ahead of Oklahoma State (16-8, 37-14) abd Arizona (16-8, 35-15). Tech's NiJaree Canady pitched a five-inning (run-rule) perfect game on Saturday over Baylor to close out the conference season. OSU scored late-season non-conference wins over Oklahoma on April 15 and Texas on April 22, so the Cowgirls appear to be heading into the Big 12 with some momentum (Texas Tech and Oklahoma State did not meet in conference play as, even with five of the Big 12's 16 schools not fielding softball teams, there are still too many teams for everybody to play each other).

In the Big 10, No. 2 Nebraska finished atop the standings at 23-1 (43-6), beating out the likes of Oregon and UCLA (each 20-4). Husker pitcher Jordy Frahm compiled an excellent WHIP of .88 (100 hits + 22 walks, all divided by 138.67 innings) this season and also, on the offensive side, has an active 37-game on-base streak going. For comparison, Canady has a .79 WHIP and her Texas Tech teammate Kaitlyn Terry has a .80.

Popular posts from this blog

Few minutes after 6:00 pm Central: We now have our eighth team for the Women's College World Series, Oregon State (in the postings below, all WCWS qualifiers are depicted in bold). The Beavers defeated Cal 3-0 and then 1-0 today, to take the teams' super-regional series 2-1. 4:40 pm Central: We have the identities of two more teams going to the WCWS (bringing the total to seven), but Oregon State has stayed alive against Cal, forcing a third and deciding game to determine the one remaining team for the World Series. Leave it to the Beavers! Here are the two teams (in bold) that have earned bids to Oklahoma City thus far today: Tennessee , which edged Michigan 1-0 in what must have been a very dramatic finish to those who saw it live. The reason I say must have been is that ESPN cut away to show a live Barry Bonds at-bat in his quest for 715 home runs, a number that would surpass Babe Ruth for second on the all-time list. Sure enough, Bonds blasted one deep into the c...
Read more

2012 Geospatial Map of NCAA Tournament

Here is my annual geospatial map of the NCAA regional assignments. The official NCAA bracket is listed here . Each of the 16 regional sites has its own color code. For example, the geographically compact University of Florida region, hosted by the No. 5 seed Gators and also featuring Central Florida, South Florida, and Florida Gulf Coast, depicts the teams in blue boxes with orange letters. Two of the most spread-out regions are:  The one hosted by top-seed Cal, whose visitors include Arkansas, Iona (NY), and Boston University. These teams are shown in dark-blue boxes with yellow lettering. The University of Washington (No. 16 seed) region, whose participants (depicted in purple boxes with yellow letters) include Texas Tech, Maryland, and Harvard. Overall, the seedings are about what I had expected them to be (other years have presented greater surprises). Conference highlights (and lowlights) include: Of the nine Pac 12 schools that field softball teams, eight got in t...
Read more

2025 WCWS Championship Round -- Game 3

The WCWS championship-deciding game is underway... Top 1 -- TTU can't do anything with a two-out HBP... Bottom 1 -- K for first Texas out... Kayden Henry beats out a grounder to short... Mia Scott grounds a single to right, runner advances to second... Reese Atwood with a sharp line single to left, driving in first run. Throw from left-fielder hits Tech infielder in the back, advancing Longhorn runners to second and third... Katie Stewart with a hard liner to right, now 2-0 UT, runners on the corners with one out... First time in the series Horns have scored in the early innings... Tech catcher throws to third on apparent pick-off attempt (unsuccessful), allowing Stewart to steal second... K for second out... Leighann Goode up for huge at-bat: an out will keep it a 2-0, a single could make it 4-0... Goode blasts homer to left-center ( video ), making it 5-0 Texas... Infield pop to end the inning... Top 2 -- Horns' Teagan Kavan, who in the first inning extended her stretch of...
Read more