2026 Women's College World Series

Now that the super regional games are all finished, we finally move along to the portion of the tournament that is labeled the Women's College World Series. I'm not quite sure why the rest of the tournament doesn't get that distinction, but for whatever reason it doesn't. I didn't spend as much time watching softball this past weekend as I had hoped. I had some big plans, but it turned out to be one of those things where it works better in your head than it does in practice. I'll probably write a post about it on my main account if you are at all interested. Just keep an eye over there.

There was still a whole ton of softball played this past weekend and while some teams stepped up and made their intentions quite clear, there were a few other match ups that went into three games and ended up taking up the majority of the weekend.

Let's start with the teams that ran the field.

Alabama eliminated LSU in two quick games to move along to the WCWS, as well as UCLA over UCF, and Arkansas over Duke. This is the first time that Arkansas has ever been to the WCWS, so well done for them. They aren't the team that I am going to be cheering for, but it's always nice to see some fresh faces in the later rounds of the tournament.

Nebraska also powered their way to the WCWS with two dominant wins over Oklahoma State. Finally, we have Tennessee who filled the bracket early with two wins over Georgia.

Then we have the teams that stretched things out into three games. First off we have Mississippi State who powered their way past Oklahoma to punch their ticket to the WCWS. I think this is also the first time Miss State has been to the WCWS and it is the first time I can think of in a while that neither Oklahoma State or Oklahoma have been in it. Which is kind of embarrassing given the fact that the later rounds of the tournament are played in Oklahoma.

Then we have Texas Tech who had a back and forth series against Florida. I have to say after watching those games, I am not a fan of Florida Softball. They did some dirty things and at the end of it all the coach got ejected and the players didn't even come out on the field to shake hands with the Texas Tech players. It's kind of trashy and low class.

We should really be teaching our ladies better sportsmanship than that. I get emotions are high, but you are on a very public stage.

Finally, we have Texas who looked like they weren't going to get the chance to defend their championship from last year. They dropped the first game against Arizona State, but fought hard to come back and win the series. That being said, I think there are better teams than Texas in the tournament, so unless they step up their game or get lucky, I don't think they are going to be doing a repeat this year.

Stranger things have happened though...