Oklahoma eyes 5th straight national title at Women's College World Series
FILE - Texas Tech pitcher NiJaree Canady (24) throws during an NCAA college softball game on Friday, March 28, 2025, in Lawrence, Kan. (AP Photo/Colin E Braley, File)
FILE - Tennessee pitcher Karlyn Pickens (23) warms up before an NCAA college softball game against Delaware State on Friday, Feb. 28, 2025, in Knoxville, Tenn. (AP Photo/Mike Buscher, File)
FILE - Oklahoma's Kasidi Pickering (7) celebrates a home run against Texas during the second inning of Game 2 of the NCAA Women's College World Series softball championship series Thursday, June 6, 2024, in Oklahoma City. (AP Photo/Alonzo Adams, File)
FILE - Oklahoma's Kasidi Pickering (7) celebrates a home run against Texas during the second inning of Game 2 of the NCAA Women's College World Series softball championship series Thursday, June 6, 2024, in Oklahoma City. (AP Photo/Alonzo Adams, File)
FILE - Texas Tech pitcher NiJaree Canady (24) throws during an NCAA college softball game on Friday, March 28, 2025, in Lawrence, Kan. (AP Photo/Colin E Braley, File)
FILE - Tennessee pitcher Karlyn Pickens (23) warms up before an NCAA college softball game against Delaware State on Friday, Feb. 28, 2025, in Knoxville, Tenn. (AP Photo/Mike Buscher, File)
FILE - Oklahoma's Kasidi Pickering (7) celebrates a home run against Texas during the second inning of Game 2 of the NCAA Women's College World Series softball championship series Thursday, June 6, 2024, in Oklahoma City. (AP Photo/Alonzo Adams, File)
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Oklahoma could extend its record run of consecutive national titles to five at this year's Women's College World Series.
Patty Gasso's second-seeded Sooners will face No. 7 seed Tennessee in their WCWS opener. Oklahoma beat Alabama on Saturday to win the Norman Super Regional.
Advertisement
Action in the eight-team double-elimination bracket begins Thursday at Devon Park. The final two teams will play for the title in a best-of-three series starting June 4.
Gasso, who will coach the United States at the 2028 Summer Olympics, has led the Sooners to eight national titles, including six of the past eight and seven of 10. This was Oklahoma's first season as a member of the Southeastern Conference.
In other opening-day matchups, third-seeded Florida will play No. 6 seed Texas, No. 9 seed UCLA meets No. 16 seed Oregon and No. 12 seed Texas Tech will face unseeded Mississippi.
Oklahoma will face Tennessee star pitcher Karlyn Pickens, who broke her NCAA record by throwing a 79.4 mph pitch during Saturday's win over Nebraska. Pickens then shut out the Cornhuskers 1-0 on Sunday.
Advertisement
Nebraska's loss means Oklahoma won't be facing former Sooners pitcher Jordy Bahl, who transferred to her home-state Cornhuskers after being named the Most Outstanding Player of the 2023 World Series with Oklahoma.
Although No. 1 overall seed Texas A&M was knocked out in regional play, the SEC has five teams in the field — Oklahoma, Tennessee, Florida, Texas and Ole Miss.
Florida beat Georgia in three games to advance. The Gators won national titles in 2014 and 2015 and lost to Oklahoma in the semifinals last year.
Texas has reached the best-of-three championship series in two of the past three seasons, with both losses coming to Oklahoma. The Longhorns are also in their first season in the SEC.
Advertisement
Texas Tech and Ole Miss are first-time qualifiers.
Texas Tech beat host Florida State in a super regional. Pitcher NiJaree Canady, last year's USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year, led Stanford to the national semifinals two straight years before transferring to Tech. She led the Red Raiders to their first Big 12 regular-season and tournament titles.
Ole Miss is the only unseeded team remaining. The Rebels beat Arizona twice to win the Tucson Regional and beat Arkansas in super regionals.
UCLA and Oregon will meet in a matchup of former Pac-12 teams that moved to the Big Ten this year.
Oregon, the Big Ten regular-season champion, defeated upstart Liberty to advance. Liberty stunned Texas A&M in regional play, but couldn't get past the Ducks.
UCLA was down to its last out against South Carolina in Game 2 before winning, then took Game 3. The Bruins could add to their record 12 World Series titles.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
USA Today
41 minutes ago
- USA Today
Jalen Ramsey trade rumors: Dolphins CB not expected at mandatory minicamp
Jalen Ramsey trade rumors: Dolphins CB not expected at mandatory minicamp Show Caption Hide Caption Greg Olsen expresses excitement for upcoming Olympic flag football Former TE Greg Olsen is excited for some NFL players to showcase their skills in the upcoming 2028 Summer Olympics and the debut of flag football. Sports Seriously The Miami Dolphins and Jalen Ramsey mutually agreed to seek a trade for the veteran cornerback a couple of weeks ahead of the 2025 NFL Draft. Ramsey remains on Miami's roster nearly two months later, but it appears the two parties are still planning to split before the 2025 season. NFL Network's Ian Rapoport reports Ramsey is not planning to attend the Dolphins' mandatory minicamp this week as the two parties "continue to work towards a trade." Miami's minicamp will run from June 10-12. If Ramsey does not attend, he will be subject to a fine for each day he misses. According to Spotrac, a player fine will be a maximum of $17,462 for the first day absent, $34,925 for the second day and $52,381 for missing a third day. The NFL's new CBA only allows fines to be forgiven on rookie deals, so it doesn't appear Miami will be able to waive any fines assessed to Ramsey. JALEN RAMSEY LANDING SPOTS: Rams, Raiders among best fits if Dolphins trade CB Ramsey has four years remaining on his contract with the Dolphins, as the three-year, $72.3 million extension he signed with the team on eve of the 2024 NFL season still hasn't kicked in yet. He is set to have a cap hit of just under $16.7 million this season while taking home $25.1 million in cash, per The Dolphins will be able to split any dead-cap hit – guaranteed money already paid to a player no longer on the team – associated with trading or releasing Ramsey over two seasons because the NFL's June 1 deadline has passed. Making it palatable for Miami to trade Ramsey, as it would take manageable dead-cap hits of roughly $10.75 million in 2025 and $18.5 million in 2026 while creating $5.9 million in space for the upcoming season. Releasing Ramsey would be more penal. The Dolphins would take on just under a $31 million dead-cap hit this season – which would cost them $14.3 million in present-day cap space – while still absorbing a dead-cap blow of $18.5 million next season. It isn't clear whether the Dolphins are willing to release Ramsey if they can't find a willing trade partner.
Fox Sports
43 minutes ago
- Fox Sports
Alcaraz saves three match points to take French Open final against Sinner to fifth set
Associated Press PARIS (AP) — Defending champion Carlos Alcaraz has forced a deciding set in the French Open final after saving three match points against Jannik Sinner. Alcaraz was trailing 5-3, 40-0 in the fourth set on Sunday before rallying past his rival, winning a tiebreaker 7-6 (3). Sinner, the top-ranked player, won the first two sets 6-4, 7-6 (4) before Alcaraz claimed the third set 6-4. Sinner and Alcaraz share seven major titles, four for Alcaraz and three for Sinner, who is in the French Open final for the first time. Sinner is on a 20-match winning streak in Grand Slam tournaments, after winning the U.S. Open and the Australian Open. The 22-year-old Alcaraz owns a tour-leading 21-1 record on clay this year and has beaten the 23-year-old Sinner in their past four meetings. He leads him 7-4 overall. ___ AP tennis: in this topic
San Francisco Chronicle
an hour ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
Hall of Famer Don Nelson selected as this year's winner of Chuck Daly Lifetime Achievement Award
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Don Nelson has been invited to the NBA Finals countless times in recent years, always declining those opportunities. This time, his peers found a way to ensure he couldn't say no. Nelson — a Basketball Hall of Famer and three-time NBA coach of the year — was announced Sunday as this year's recipient of the Chuck Daly Lifetime Achievement Award, presented by the National Basketball Coaches Association. It will be formally given out Sunday night, about an hour before Game 2 of the NBA Finals between the Indiana Pacers and Oklahoma City Thunder. 'History has already reflected Don Nelson's staggering contributions as a cutting-edge innovator and visionary of the NBA game,' said Pacers coach and NBCA President Rick Carlisle. 'Back in the '80s and '90s, he made teams adjust to historic pace, liberal 3-point shooting, inverted offense, and disruptive defensive schemes. All this while establishing himself as one of the most compelling personalities in all of professional sports.' Nelson, 85, retired in 2010 as the NBA's all-time coaching wins leader with 1,335, just ahead of Lenny Wilkens' 1,332. Nelson kept that top spot for nearly 12 years before now-retired San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich passed him in March 2022. Nelson is one of only two coaches in NBA history to have at least 250 wins with three different franchises. He got to that mark with Milwaukee, Dallas and Golden State, and also coached New York briefly in his career. Nelson and Daly were close friends. They went head-to-head 41 times as coaches: Nelson's teams went 21-20 in those games. 'Chuck was an absolute genius in all facets of the game and life,' Nelson said. 'I'm glad I had the opportunity to coach against him, learn from him, and benefit from his knowledge. To say that I'm deeply touched to receive an award that bears his name would be an understatement. This is special.' Nelson took teams to the playoffs 18 times as a coach and won five championships as a player with the Boston Celtics. He started coaching in 1976 and what became known as 'Nellie Ball' soon created a buzz with him being generally credited for introducing what is now known as the point forward. His up-tempo offensive ways were probably best on display with Golden State in the 'Run TMC' era featuring Tim Hardaway, Mitch Richmond and Chris Mullin. The award is in Daly's memory and celebrates his 'integrity, competitive excellence, and tireless promotion of NBA basketball.' Prior recipients are Rudy Tomjanovich (2024), Rick Adelman (2023), Mike Fratello (2022), Larry Brown (2021), Del Harris (2020), Frank Layden (2019), Doug Moe (2018), Al Attles and Hubie Brown (2017), K.C. Jones and Jerry Sloan (2016), Dick Motta (2015), Bernie Bickerstaff (2014), Bill Fitch (2013), Pat Riley (2012), Lenny Wilkens (2011), Jack Ramsay and Tex Winter (2010) and Tommy Heinsohn (2009).
