Game 4 [Posted on Sunday] Alabama defeated Louisiana Lafayette 3-1, to eliminate the Ragin' Cajuns. There was a long weather-related delay late Saturday night, during which I went to sleep. It's only from this article that I learned of the game's outcome. As it turned out, play didn't resume until after midnight local time. Bama now goes against Arizona State. The undefeated Sun Devils need only win once to make the final championship series, whereas the Crimson Tide must beat ASU twice. Game 3 Florida has eliminated UCLA , 2-0. This makes the SEC 2-for-2 in games today against the Pac 10 (see below for a summary of Alabama's win over Arizona). Florida next will play Texas A&M on Sunday. The Aggies, undefeated in World Series play, only need a single win over the Gators to qualify for the final championship series. Florida, with one loss already, must beat A&M twice to make the finals. Game 2 The Queen is dead! Long live the Queen! We don't y...

Texas A&M captured tonight's opener, 2-1 over the University of Louisiana Lafayette ( article ). After the Ragin' Cajuns scored a run to tie the game in the bottom of the sixth, the Aggies responded with a tally in the top of the seventh that turned out to be the winning run. Given the Cajuns' tight games yesterday and today, I've made up an advertising slogan for them: Never a (D) ULL Moment! In the nightcap, Arizona State recorded the most decisive victory of the World Series thus far, blanking UCLA 4-0. It could have been considerably worse as, for example, the Sun Devils failed to score in a bases-loaded, none-out situation in the first. Next up is "Survival Saturday," where the teams with one loss play each other. If you lose, you go home; but if you win, you get to keep playing. Action starts at noon Eastern, with Florida playing Virginia Tech; next is Alabama against Arizona. The losers of Friday night's games -- ULL and UCLA -- will the...

END-OF-THE-DAY UPDATE Day 1 of the NCAA Women's College World Series ended a short time ago, with UCLA edging Pac-10 rival Arizona, 1-0. Both teams started off a little shaky in the field, resulting in numerous baserunners for whomever was batting at the time. The Bruins got a key first-inning hit by Amanda Kamekona to drive in the game's only run. After a few innings, both starting pitchers -- UCLA's Anjelica "Jelly" Selden and U of A's Taryne Mowatt -- settled down, and there were few offensive threats by either team the rest of the way. In the first game of the evening session, it looked like Alabama's strategy of pitching around Arizona State slugger Kaitlin Cochran was going to work, as the Tide took a 1-0 lead into the Sun Devils' at-bats in the top of the seventh. Other ASU players started getting key hits, however, and the result was a 3-1 Sun Devil win . The two afternoon games took place while I was at the office, so I only obtained peri...

Below is my annual diagram to see, at a glance, how the teams in the upcoming NCAA Women's College World Series fared against each other during the regular season. Arizona State stands out for both the quantity and quality of its record against WCWS teams. As is characteristic of recent years, the SEC teams (in this case, Alabama and Florida) kept to themselves during the regular season.

END-OF-THE-DAY UPDATE I've so gotten into making the colorful charts (below) that I haven't written much text lately. The super-regionals are now over, five of them having been sweeps and the other three going the distance. At this stage, Texas A&M and Arizona State look like the strongest teams, to me. Virginia Tech pitcher Angela Tincher , who no-hit the U.S. national team in an exhibtion game during the season and shut down the high-powered Michigan offense this weekend, makes the Hokies a darkhouse pick, in my view. Only three of last year's eight teams from the NCAA Women's College World Series -- Arizona, Arizona State, and Texas A&M -- are returning. The non-repeaters from last year are Baylor, DePaul, Northwestern, Tennessee, and Washington. LATE-AFTERNOON UPDATE

END-OF-THE-DAY UPDATE As shown in the following chart, a fifth team has now made it to Oklahoma City for the Women's College World Series, namely two-time defending champion Arizona. In the two series that opened this evening, UCLA and Texas A&M scored easy wins to take 1-0 leads over their respective opponents. MID-DAY UPDATE Four teams have "punched their ticket" for the NCAA Women's College World Series in Oklahoma City, thus far today. These results can be seen at a glance in the chart below... As I write, a decisive third game in the super-regional between Arizona and Oklahoma is going on. It's 2-1 Wildcats after four (with UA the visitors in this game, via coin flip). Michigan took the opener of its series against Virginia Tech, with the next game (or two, if necessary) to be held tomorrow. Finally, the UCLA-Georgia and Texas A&M-Stanford series begin tonight.

The first night of super-regional play is now in the books. Five of the eight series got underway. As shown in the chart below, four of tonight's opening games were captured by the higher-seeded team. These series follow a two-out-of-three format. Please see the official team-specific homepages in the links section to the right, for further details on these games.