University of Michigan coach Carol Hutchins, entering her 38th year as the Wolverines' skipper, recently spoke to the Conqu'ring Heroes podcast ( link ). In previewing this year's squad, Hutchins noted its returning strength in the circle with Meghan Beaubien and Alex Storako.

This posting is not strictly about college softball. It is about past Olympic softball players, but most from the U.S. previously played at the college level. Some of you may be familiar with the website Five-Thirty-Eight (named after the number of electoral votes in U.S. presidential elections), which features quantitative analyses of politics, sports, and other cultural phenomena. Five-Thirty-Eight has a new article available, looking at which Olympic softball players have the best Wins Above Replacement (WAR) statistics. WAR is a relatively straightforward concept, in principle: How many extra wins does a player get you compared to a marginal replacement player? For Major League Baseball, a "replacement player" is considered someone who would be brought up from the AAA minor-league level to play in the big leagues. However, WAR is very complicated to calculate and different analysts use somewhat different formulas. Putting all that aside, which softball Olympians have pro...

I'm back. It's been pretty much all Oklahoma thus far, with the Sooners (home team today) leading 5-1 after three... Still four innings to play, though... Solo shots by Jocelyn Alo in the first ( video ) and Jayda Coleman in the second gave OU a 2-0 lead... Florida State came back with one in the third, on a walk (runner later advanced to second on a ground-out) and a double, cutting its deficit to 2-1... Sooners counter with three runs in bottom of third on a single, walk, walk, and double, with a key wild pitch mixed in... Now, 5-1 OU... G Juarez rolling along in the circle for OU, whereas FSU has now used three pitchers (starter Danielle Watson, who pitched so well in Game 1, Emma Wilson, and most recently Kathryn Sandercock)... Noles go quietly in top of the fourth... OU likewise in bottom half... Noles likewise in top of fifth... Bottom fifth: Sharp line single to center to lead things off... Grounder to SS for double-play (tags second, throws to first)... Grounder to seco...

Almost ready for Game 2... Kathryn Sandercock, who finished up last night's game for FSU, will start in the circle tonight...  Top one: Tiare Jennings with leadoff double for OU... 3-0 to Jocelyn Alo, FSU may simply be trying not to give her anything to hit... Four-pitch walk, putting runners on first and second... Grounder to third for double play: step on the bag and throw to first. Runner on second, two outs... Grounder to second, umpire rules throw to first beat the batter there, but replay (and shocked expression on batter's face) clearly showed otherwise... Side retired... Some of the Twitter reactions to missed call... Bottom one: G Juarez in the circle for OU... One-out infield single, as batter avoids tag going to first... Elizabeth Mason with two-run blast to begin the scoring ( video ), 2-0 Seminoles... Next batter walks... K for second out... K on 3-2 change-up to end the inning...  A Jana Johns "jack" for OU ( video ) in the top of the third halves the S...

Game 1 of the championship series between Florida State and Oklahoma is underway, after two of the Sunday games were delayed until Monday...   Top one: Kaley Mudge, who was 5-for-5 last night, leads off with a single for FSU, off of OU starter Nicole May... Sooners flub a short underhand toss from short to second to start off a possible double play, putting runners on first and second... Fading flare to left caught by OU's Mackenzie Donihoo, who doubles runner off second ( video )... Ground-out ends top of first...  Bottom one: Not so elementary, but Seminoles start Danielle Watson, rather than the more experienced Kathryn Sandercock or Caylan Arnold, in the circle. Watson pitched in relief last night... Watson with a nice leaping grab of a chopper to get first out at first base... K for second out... Grounder to third ends inning... Top two: Leadoff K... Grounder to second for second out... Deep fly to left-center for third out -- CF glides right in front of LF to make c...

News about coaching retirements (plural) and the scheduling controversy appear below the game synopses... Alabama-Florida State This is not the Montana Fouts we're used to seeing! Three Seminoles have stepped to the plate in the top of the first and the results are a single, a walk, and an Elizabeth Mason three-run shot ( video )... 3-0 FSU with none out... Noles add one run in the second and four in the third, making it 8-0... Bama with two in the bottom of the third, so the score is 8-2 FSU... Fouts is on the outs, having been removed after two and two-thirds innings pitched... Tide coming up in the bottom of the fourth... Leadoff double for Alabama by KB Sides... FSU replaces Kathryn Sandercock in the circle with Caylan Arnold... Fly to right for first out... Another fly, to left-center, for second out... Inning ends on grounder to second...  Still trailing 8-2, Bama coming up in bottom of fifth... Leadoff single to center... Bunted to second, one out... Perhaps the Tide was goi...

Breaking News: The two rematches (Oklahoma-JMU and Alabama-Florida State) that were originally scheduled for tonight have been shifted to Monday . The championship round will begin Tuesday. Alabama-Florida State Bama just needs one win to advance, whereas FSU needs two... Game finally starts after weather delay, Crimson Tide as the visitors... Scoreless after two... Bama pitching Lexi Kilfoyl rather than Montana Fouts... Still scoreless, heading to top of fifth... Top five: One-out single (takes second on passed ball) and HBP give Bama runners on first and second... K for second out... FSU pitching change (Kathryn Sandercock replacing Caylan Arnold)... Grounder to second ends threat... Bottom five: Infield single to start things for Seminoles... After fly-out, sharp single to left gives FSU runners on first and second with one out... Two-out single, followed by a walk, bring in game's first (and only) run, 1-0 FSU... Top six: Nothing for Bama... Bottom six: Two outs, none on for F...