Michigan coach Carol Hutchins has won this year's espnW Pat Summitt Coaching Award , named after the late  Tennessee women's basketball coach .

The deciding game for the national championship is underway... Two Oklahoma singles, combined with two Auburn errors, put two runs across for Sooners in bottom of first... 2-0 OU ... Auburn leaves runners on first and second in top second, as Paige Parker's change-up fools Auburn batter for strikeout... OU can't build on a one-out single in the bottom half... Tigers get first two runners on in top of third -- Parker drops soft pop-up to her, then Auburn bunt goes for base-hit...  Kasey Cooper flares a single to right-center, loading the bases for Emily Carosone, who hit last night's walk-off grand slam... Carosone strikes out on three pitches... Carlee Wallace up... Grounds into 6-4-3 double-play to end threat... Sooners don't score in bottom half, leaving runner on first... Leadoff homer to left from Jade Rhodes cuts Tiger deficit to 2-1... Haley Fagan walks on full count... Nothing more for Auburn in top of fourth... Two-out walk for OU in bottom half... Groun...

A wide-open game so far, with Oklahoma leading Auburn 7-5 after two complete... OU (the visitor tonight) led 7-0 after an inning and a half. After Auburn got its leadoff batter on base in the bottom of the second via HBP, the next two Tigers struck out. But a walk, homer, error, triple, and single have brought us to our present score... Still 7-5 Sooners, as Tigers come up in bottom of fourth... Two-run shot by Kasey Cooper ties it 7-up... Next batter singles... OU frosh pitcher Jayden Chestnut (who replaced starter Kelsey Stevens) clearly struggling, with none out. Will Paige Parker come in to pitch at some point? Pair of baserunning outs (runner trying to advance from second to third on infield grounder, and failed attempt to steal second) put the kibosh on Auburn rally... Sooners go quietly in top of fifth... As do Tigers in bottom half... Auburn pitcher Rachael Walters has been very effective, after replacing starter Kaylee Carlson, who was charged with all seven OU runs......

We're moments away from Game 1 of the two-out-of-three championship series between Auburn and Oklahoma. I'm going to pick the Sooners, based on steadiness of pitching in the latter part of the season. In early May, Auburn's pitching imploded for a time. Also, the way the Tigers gave up a game-tying three-run homer in the seventh yesterday to Florida State doesn't inspire confidence... With Oklahoma as the home team for Game 1 and pitching stalwart Paige Parker in the circle, Auburn comes up to bat... A Tiger threat is extinguished on an unusual double-play , ending with a runner thrown out attempting to go from second to third... Lexi Davis with the surprise pitching start for Auburn... OU gets a runner on in the first, but doesn't score... Sydney Romero's three-run blast in the bottom of the third continues to hold up, as OU leads 3-0... Auburn down to its final hacks in the top of the seventh... Leadoff walk... Jade Rhodes homers over the center-fiel...

It will be Oklahoma vs. Auburn for the national title in a two-out-of-three series beginning Monday night. Below are my comments from the four games played Sunday (I caught more of some games than of others)... LSU vs. OKLAHOMA -- OU 3-0, top third... After LSU ties it, Oklahoma pulls away again to win 7-3. FLORIDA STATE vs. AUBURN -- Tied 3-3, with the Seminoles batting in the top of the third... FSU single drives in runner from third for 4-3 lead... Jade Rhodes socks three-run homer for Auburn, giving Tigers 6-4 lead in bottom of third... Kasey Cooper blasts a two-out solo shot in bottom of fourth, increasing Auburn lead to 7-4... Beautiful catch by Tigers' Victoria Draper, with FSU having runners on first and second with one out, top sixth. Saves one or two runs. The catch appears about a minute and a half into this highlight video ... Walk loads bases for Seminoles, though, with two outs... Alex Powers fly-out to center ends threat... Top 7: Noles down to final hacks, t...

Under the usual Women's College World Series format, today would be "Survival Saturday." The remaining undefeated teams would be getting a day of rest, and all the teams playing on Saturday would have had a loss from Thursday or Friday, making them vulnerable under the double-elimination procedure. However, because of Thursday night's rain-outs, the schedule has been shifted around. Only some of today's games, therefore, are pitting one-loss teams against each other, with the loser going home and the winner surviving. These elimination games feature Florida St. vs. UCLA, and LSU vs. Alabama. This evening's games, matching up teams who won their WCWS openers, include Georgia vs. Auburn, and Oklahoma vs. Michigan (the latter pitting the Romero sisters against each other). To keep track of how many losses a given team has, see the chart at the bottom of this posting... SUNDAY MATCH-UPS: Michigan vs. Florida State, and LSU vs. Georgia, in elimination games...

DAY-1 GAME 4 -- LSU vs. MICHIGAN (PLAYED ON DAY 2) The Tigers and Wolverines are now underway, roughly 24 hours after they were supposed to play... Bailey Landry drives a one-out double to the left-field wall to get things going for LSU... Strike-out and infield pop-up end the threat... Sierra Lawrence on third for Michigan with two outs in the bottom of the first; she walked, then advanced a base at a time on two ground-outs... Fly-out to left ends the inning... Elyse Thornhill's infield single doesn't lead to anything for LSU in top second... Bottom 2: UM's Lindsay Montemarano bloops a two-out single to left, barely beyond the infield dirt... Nothing comes of it, though... Top 4: Bianka Bell leads off with an infield single for the Tigers (chopper over third-baseperson's head, retrieved by shortstop)... Two-out walk puts Tigers on first and second... K ends inning... One-out single for Michigan's Kelsey Susalla in bottom of fourth, followed by Tera Blanco base-h...