How does WCWS work? Explaining double-elimination format for NCAA softball tournament
How does WCWS work? Explaining double-elimination format for NCAA softball tournament
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OU softball coach Patty Gasso, pitcher Kierston Deal talk about Sooners reaching WCWS
OU softball coach Patty Gasso, pitcher Kierston Deal talk about the Sooners' 13-2 win against Alabama in Game 2 of the NCAA super regionals to reach the WCWS.
The college softball world has shifted its entire focus to Oklahoma City for the 2025 Women's College World Series.
Back for the ninth consecutive year is the sport's biggest titan, No. 2 Oklahoma. Patty Gasso's Sooners, who are led by Sam Landry and Kasidi Pickering, are looking to continue their dominance at Devon Park by winning their fifth consecutive (and ninth overall) national championship.
The SEC also has a strong showing in Oklahoma City, as the conference owns five of the eight spots, largely due to the additions of Oklahoma and Texas from the Big 12 over the offseason. The Big 12 still is represented in Oklahoma City, though, as NiJaree Canady pitched Texas Tech to the WCWS for the first time in program history.
WCWS BRACKET 2025: Full schedule, matchups for NCAA softball tournament
Speaking of first-time appearances, Ole Miss is making its first trip to the WCWS as well. The Rebels upset back-to-back national seeds No. 13 Arizona and No. 4 Arkansas in the Tucson Regional and Fayetteville Super Regional, respectively.
WCWS play opens up on Thursday, May 29 at noon ET with an SEC-on-SEC battle between Florida and Texas. But as the WCWS takes place over the next week, fans who watch the action unfold for the first time may wonder how the championship tournament format actually works.
Here's what you need to know on the format of the Women's College World Series:
How many teams make the WCWS?
The Women's College World Series is comprised of the final eight remaining teams in the 64-team NCAA softball tournament bracket. The eight teams that compete in the WCWS have advanced to Oklahoma City by winning their respective regional and super regional series.
Of the eight teams that have made the 2025 Women's College World Series, five of them hail from the SEC.
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How does the Women's College World Series work? Explaining WCWS format
Similarly to the College World Series, the Women's College World Series begins with a double-elimination style format comprised of two four-team brackets. It's similar to how the regional round of the NCAA Tournament operates, where four teams compete against each other until a winner is crowned from that respective bracket.
Each team begins WCWS play with a 0-0 record and is guaranteed to play at least two games in Oklahoma City. Those who lose their opening WCWS game will fall to 0-1 and drop into the "elimination bracket," where they will play to keep their stay alive by winning an elimination game. Those who win their opening WCWS games will move to 1-0 and continue further in the "winner's bracket."
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The team that drops their first "elimination bracket" game will drop to 0-2 and be eliminated from the chase for a national championship.
But where the format of the WCWS differs from the CWS and gets a bit complicated is what happens to the loser of the second "winner's bracket" game. The loser of this game not only drops to 1-1 in WCWS play and is put into a survive-and-advance elimination game, but they have to play that elimination game on the opposite side of the bracket.
From there, that team will play the winner of that bracket's "elimination bracket" game. The team that loses that game is eliminated from the WCWS, while the winner advances back into the "winner's bracket" to play in the semifinals with a 2-1 record. To make the WCWS championship, that team will need two wins against the representative of the "winner's bracket."
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How does the Women's College World Series championship work?
The Women's College World Series championship series is a best-of-three series, meaning a team needs to win two games to be crowned the national champion. A team that drops Game 1 of the WCWS championship series can still win the national championship by winning Game 2 and forcing the "if necessary" Game 3.
WCWS bracket 2025
Bracket 1 for the 2025 Women's College World Series is loaded and consists of four national seeds in No. 2 Oklahoma, No. 3 Florida, No. 6 Texas and No. 7 Tennessee. Bracket 2 for the WCWS consists of No. 9 UCLA, No. 12 Texas Tech, No. 16 Oregon and non-seeded Ole Miss.
Here's a full breakdown of the two WCWS brackets:
Parentheses represent team's seeding
Bracket 1:
(2) Oklahoma vs. (7) Tennessee
(3) Florida vs. (6) Texas
Bracket 2:
(9) UCLA vs. (16) Oregon
(12) Texas Tech vs. Ole Miss
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WCWS schedule 2025
Here's a full breakdown of the 2025 Women's College World Series, including available start times and TV channel information at the time of this writing:
All times Eastern
Thursday, May 29
Game 1: No. 3 Florida vs. No. 6 Texas | noon | ESPN (Fubo)
No. 3 Florida vs. No. 6 Texas | noon | ESPN (Fubo) Game 2: No. 2 Oklahoma vs. No. 7 Tennessee | 2:30 p.m. | ESPN (Fubo)
No. 2 Oklahoma vs. No. 7 Tennessee | 2:30 p.m. | ESPN (Fubo) Game 3: Ole Miss vs. No. 12 Texas Tech | 7 p.m. | ESPN2 (Fubo)
Ole Miss vs. No. 12 Texas Tech | 7 p.m. | ESPN2 (Fubo) Game 4: No. 16 Oregon vs. No. 9 UCLA | 9:30 p.m. ESPN2 (Fubo)
Friday, May 30
Game 5: Game 1 loser vs. Game 2 loser | 7 p.m. | ESPN2 (Fubo)
Game 1 loser vs. Game 2 loser | 7 p.m. | ESPN2 (Fubo) Game 6: Game 3 loser vs. Game 4 loser | 9:30 p.m. | ESPN2 (Fubo)
Saturday, May 31
Game 7: Game 1 winner vs. Game 2 winner 3 p.m. | ABC (Fubo)
Game 1 winner vs. Game 2 winner 3 p.m. | ABC (Fubo) Game 8: Game 3 winner vs. Game 4 winner 7 p.m. | ESPN (Fubo)
Sunday, June 1
Game 9: Game 5 winner vs. Game 8 loser 3 p.m. | ABC (Fubo)
Game 10: Game 6 winner vs. Game 7 loser 7 p.m. | ESPNU (Fubo)
Monday, June 2
Game 11: Game 7 winner vs. Game 9 winner | noon | ESPN (Fubo)
Game 7 winner vs. Game 9 winner | noon | ESPN (Fubo) Game 12 (If Necessary): Game 7 winner vs. Game 9 winner | 2:30 p.m. | ESPN (Fubo)
Game 7 winner vs. Game 9 winner | 2:30 p.m. | ESPN (Fubo) Game 13: Game 8 winner vs. Game 10 winner | 7 p.m. | ESPN2 (Fubo)
Game 8 winner vs. Game 10 winner | 7 p.m. | ESPN2 (Fubo) Game 14 (If Cecessary): Game 8 winner vs. Game 10 winner | 9:30 p.m. | ESPN2 (Fubo)
WCWS championship series schedule 2025
Wednesday, June 4
WCWS championship Game 1: Game 11 winner vs. Game 12 winner | 8 p.m. | ESPN (Fubo)
Thursday, June 5
WCWS championship Game 2: Game 11 winner vs. Game 12 winner | 8 p.m. | ESPN (Fubo)
Friday, June 6
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Red Raiders have the momentum
Follow our coverage of the WCWS from Oklahoma City as the six remaining teams chase the softball national title Imagn Images Needless to say, all of the momentum and energy is swinging Texas Tech's way now after that. What a way to spark an offense, and a total shock for UCLA. In a game where runs are hard to come by, Glasco and Garcia said, time to make our own magic. Texas Tech pinch-runner Makayla Garcia just STOLE HOME to get the first run of this game on the board. Holy cow what a gutsy call by Gerry Glasco to send Garcia on the pitch, and Taylor Tinsley and Alexis Ramirez had no clue it was happening. This kind of move DOES NOT happen very often, if at all. But wow was that well-executed, as Garcia just dove through the wickets of Ramirez at home plate to give Texas Tech a 1-0 lead. UCLA challenged the call to see if Garcia left early on the pitch, but upon review, she actually got a pretty late lead off of third. 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Imagn Images Some Texas Tech players have made some decent contact against UCLA's co-ace Taylor Tinsley, such as that deep foul out by Hailey Toney, who did a good job of getting under Tinsley's tough drop ball to get it up in the air. But it's fair for Red Raiders fans to start to get a little bit concerned, as this offense has been pretty quiet in OKC across a game and a half so far. Make no mistake, NiJa Canady is comfortable throwing in pressure situations and close games, as we already saw. But run support certainly helps, and so far Tinsley has allowed just one baserunner via hit-by-pitch. The Red Raiders have to start making adjustments in the box, or this one will be over quickly. Imagn Images UCLA has a tradition this season to throw "parties" in the dugout to spark things on offense, with streamers and a disco ball decorating the dugout, bubbles in the air and players and coaches alike donning party hats. Never in my life did I think I'd see the stoic Kelly Inouye-Perez wearing a sparkly gold party hat while coaching, but here we are. That's the WCWS, and it's the best. T4 - Texas Tech 0, UCLA 0 Nijaree Canady and Taylor Tinsley have been in control through three innings. Canady has allowed one hit and has struck out two, while Tinsley has held the Red Raiders without a hit. All these close-up camera angles, allowing us to see dirt flying to spit flying, are part of why softball is such a fun product is the number of cameras that give us a front-row seat, even from our coaches. Did you know when ESPN first started broadcasting the WCWS in 1982 it did so with just four cameras? Now, there are more than 40 cameras. Imagn Images Seeing Gerry Glasco get so hyped for his team after escaping that jam (and almost getting ejected) is so great to see. This program is reaching new heights with every game it remains in OKC, and that kind of energy is necessary if you're trying to make history by advancing to a first-ever WCWS semifinal. T3 - Texas Tech 0, UCLA 0 The Texas Tech bullpen is getting warm, as a very, very rare occurrence is taking place in OKC: NiJa Canady is struggling. That's her second walk today, and the ace does not take those lightly. But the changeup she just pulled the string on against Taylor Stephens may have just gotten her back in the groove, as she strikes her out on three pitches. Now THAT is grace under pressure. Canady just stranded the bases loaded to erase the Bruins' threat. B2 - Texas Tech 0, UCLA 0 The Bruins are making Nijaree Canady and the Red Raiders' defense work, as Rylee Slimp just beat out Canady's throw for a bunt base hit to give UCLA two runners on with one out. That, on top of some frustration with the strike zone, can send things southward for a defense really quickly, but we'll see if Canady can calm things down here for her team. Things are getting spicy as Texas Tech coach Gerry Glasco appears to have just received a warning from the umpire crew after mouthing off about the iffy strike zone so far. T2 - Texas Tech 0, UCLA 0 And while Nijaree Canady is known for her signature 70-mph rise ball, she's already leaning on her changeup early against these Bruins batters. She's leaned on that pitch slightly more this year than she has in the past, and it's making its presence known at the WCWS. Joley Mitchell on her three home runs in the past two games. That was quite the easy inning for UCLA's Taylor Tinsley in the circle, tossing just nine pitches to sit the Red Raiders in order. And a mind-blowing stat on Texas Tech ace Nijaree Canady (let's be honest, which numbers of hers aren't, at this point?): Fifty percent of the outs she has recorded in her collegiate pitching career have come via strikeout. Absolutely dominant.
