NCAA softball tournament regional recap: How 2 top-10 teams — including No. 1 Texas A&M — went out
The first weekend of the NCAA softball tournament brought the unprecedented this year.
Texas A&M became the first No. 1 seed to be eliminated in the regional round, losing to Liberty on Sunday to end a stunningly roller-coaster day. Liberty defeated Texas A&M in the teams' first meeting Saturday, meaning the Aggies had to beat the Flames twice Sunday to stave off elimination. After Texas A&M roared back to defeat Liberty in extra innings in Sunday's first game — a game that included 25 runs and multi-run comebacks from both teams — the Aggies couldn't hold a lead in the nightcap. A five-run sixth inning was the difference in a 6-5 Liberty win.
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Liberty forged ahead to the super regional round for the first time in program history and became the early story of the 2025 tournament.
'(It) doesn't surprise me,' Liberty senior and Conference USA Softball Player of the Year Rachel Roupe said Sunday.
The Flames, the CUSA champions, will travel to play No. 16 Oregon in the super regional. They were one of four unseeded teams to pull upsets on seeded opponents' home fields over the weekend.
Nebraska, led by former Oklahoma star and 2023 Women's College World Series Most Outstanding Player Jordy Bahl, advanced out of the Baton Rouge regional without needing to face No. 10 LSU. Southeastern Louisiana upset LSU twice to knock out the Tigers, but the Cornhuskers breezed to 14-1 and 8-0 wins over SLU to advance. Bahl finished the regional 5-for-5 with four home runs at the plate and allowed just two hits over 12 innings in the circle.
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Ole Miss and No. 13 Arizona squared off twice Sunday, with the Wildcats forcing a Game 7 earlier in the day before Ole Miss' 7-3 thumping in the final game. It was a similar story for No. 14 Duke and Georgia, with the Bulldogs reigning supreme in Game 7 by a 5-2 margin.
No. 2 Oklahoma, the SEC tournament co-champion alongside Texas A&M, outscored its opponents 31-3 in three wins and remains in pursuit of its fifth straight national championship.
Regional winners
Bryan-College Station: Liberty
Liberty's 8-5 upset of Texas A&M on Saturday set the stage for the biggest upset in NCAA history on Sunday. The Flames beat the Aggies in two of three outings, with the last two games both needing all seven innings and every second to claim victory.
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'We were battling all day long,' Roupe said. 'It took us eight hours to do it. But whatever we needed to get it done, and we did it.'
Norman: No. 2 Oklahoma
The Sooners cruised through the regionals unscathed. Oklahoma shut out Boston University 8-0 before defeating Cal two straight times, 11-2 and 12-1.
Oklahoma will make its 15th straight super regional appearance, the longest active streak in Division I, per the SEC Network.
Gainesville: No. 3 Florida
Florida was so dominant in its regional that it run-ruled its opponents in all three games. It was the first time in program history that the Gators have done so.
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Florida's final scores were 8-0 against Mercer, 14-6 against Florida Atlantic and 8-0 against Mercer again in the final.
Fayetteville: No. 4 Arkansas
After shutting out Saint Louis 10-0, Arkansas saw its super regional hopes flounder in its matchup versus Oklahoma State.
Trailing 5-2 in the bottom of the seventh, Razorbacks senior Courtney Day doubled to bring in two runs, and another double from freshman Ella McDowell knotted the game at five to send it to extra innings.
After a scoreless top of the eighth for the Cowboys, Day's at-bat — again — saved the day for the Razorbacks. A single with bases loaded gave Arkansas the 6-5 victory, and it went on to thrash Oklahoma State 12-0 in the finals the next day.
Tallahassee: No. 5 Florida State
Auburn took Florida State to a Game 7 in its regional round, but the Seminoles started the final strong with two runs in the first inning and ended it strong with two runs over the fifth and sixth innings for the 4-0 win.
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Austin: No. 6 Texas
The Longhorns frolicked their way to the super regionals, ousting all opponents by a 35-6 margin. Texas beat every opponent in its regional bracket — Eastern Illinois, Michigan and UCF, respectively.
Knoxville: No. 7 Tennessee
Tennessee's smooth journey through regionals started by blasting Miami (Ohio) 17-0 in its opening game. A double defeat of Ohio State followed for the regional crown.
Columbia: No. 8 South Carolina
After cruising past North Florida 8-0 in the regional final, South Carolina is heading to its first super regionals since 2018 and first under first-year head coach Ashley Chastain Woodard.
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Chastain Woodard, a former Gamecocks pitcher and graduate assistant coach, was hired in June 2024.
Los Angeles: No. 9 UCLA
UCLA went on a 31-2 tear en route to a seamless run through the regional, ending each game by the run rule.
Baton Rouge: Nebraska
Bahl became the fourth player in NCAA history to have 20 home runs and 20 wins in the same season following her regional-round dominance.
Clemson: No. 11 Clemson
Clemson and Northwestern were scoreless through eight innings before freshman Marian Collins bunted the team to victory. Her hit brought in the runner on third, and the Tigers' defense in the bottom of the ninth got the Wildcats out in four batters.
The Tigers then toppled Kentucky 5-1 for a trip to their third super regionals in four years.
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Lubbock: No. 12 Texas Tech
Texas Tech made its first super regionals in school history after squeaking by Mississippi State 9-6. The Bulldogs posted a three-run fifth inning to narrow the gap 7-6, but the Red Raiders never relinquished their wire-to-wire lead.
Tucson: Ole Miss
Ole Miss bested No. 13 Arizona twice in the last three games of the regional round to advance. It marked the first time in program history that Ole Miss took down a national seed in the NCAA softball tournament.
The Rebels also snapped the Wildcats' 23-game regional win streak.
Durham: Georgia
Georgia junior Jaydyn Goodwin nailed a home run over right field in extra innings to earn Georgia's winning run in a 5-2 victory against Duke in the winner-take-all Game 7. It was Goodwin's team-best 12th homer of the year.
With the win, the Bulldogs advance to their third straight super regionals and fourth in the last five seasons.
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Tuscaloosa: No. 15 Alabama
Three wins in a row, and Alabama secured its third straight and record-setting 19th super regionals.
Eugene: No. 16 Oregon
Oregon and Stanford were tied 7-all in the bottom of the seventh. With a runner on first and third, Oregon senior Dezianna Patmon hammered a homer to left field for the walk-off win.
Oregon was the last team to secure a spot in the super regionals — and it's a home game at that, after Liberty's defeat of No. 1 Texas A&M set up a Ducks-Flames second-round matchup.
Super regional schedule
All times in ET. Each series is best of three.
Eugene: Liberty vs. No. 16 Oregon
Game 1: Friday, 10 p.m.
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Game 2: Saturday, 7 p.m.
Game 3 (if needed): Sunday
Norman: No. 2 Oklahoma vs. No. 15 Alabama
Game 1: Friday, 5 p.m.
Game 2: Saturday, 3 p.m.
Game 3 (if needed): Sunday
Gainesville: No. 3 Florida vs. Georgia
Game 1: Friday, 11 a.m.
Game 2: Saturday, 11 a.m.
Game 3 (if needed): Sunday
Fayetteville: No. 4 Arkansas vs. Ole Miss
Game 1: Friday, 8 p.m.
Game 2: Saturday, 9 p.m.
Game 3 (if needed): Sunday
Tallahassee: No. 5 Florida State vs. No. 12 Texas Tech
Game 1: Thursday, 7 p.m.
Game 2: Friday, 3 p.m.
Game 3 (if needed): Saturday
Austin: No. 6 Texas vs. No. 11 Clemson
Game 1: Thursday, 9 p.m.
Game 2: Friday, 9 p.m.
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Game 3 (if needed): Saturday
Knoxville: No. 7 Tennessee vs. Nebraska
Game 1: Friday, 7 p.m.
Game 2: Saturday, 5 p.m.
Game 3 (if needed): Sunday
Columbia: No. 8 South Carolina vs. No. 9 UCLA
Game 1: Friday, 1 p.m.
Game 2: Saturday, 1 p.m.
Game 3 (if needed): Sunday
This article originally appeared in The Athletic.
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So there's no breaks. There's no breaks. But Drew is one of these guys that he has an equal focus on the defensive end as the offensive end, and that's — it's a bit rare with today's players.' This is how Nembhard is wired. He wants to win, and he'll go through anybody in pursuit. Even his boy. Especially his boy. His friendship with SGA only makes him more qualified to be a nemesis. Nembhard, 18 months younger, has been chasing SGA for the better part of a decade. When they were coming up, SGA was the prodigy, the touted talent expected to make it. They first teamed up with Canada's Junior Academy. SGA was top-ranked, and Nembhard wasn't all. His name didn't join the likes of Gilgeous-Alexander and RJ Barrett. Advertisement Nembhard is here because of the chip on his shoulder. He establishes his name by taking on giants. He was a rookie when he went into Steph Curry's house and showed up the legend. 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He'll require the poise of a champion to maintain the calming perspective he shared, to not make this about getting his lick back or devolve into some one-on-one battle. He's too good to bite on the bait. Indiana is varying the coverages on him. The Pacers appear to be conceding outside shots, prompting Gilgeous-Alexander to drive into the set defense. They've also picked him up out high on the pick-and-roll, giving space for the defense to recover after the screen. Indiana is not yet taking the ball out of his hands with aggressive traps and blitzes. Though a box-and-1 isn't above Carlisle, the results from Game 1 seemed to justify the Pacers' approach. High-volume Gilgeous-Alexander seems to limit his teammates' rhythm. But down the stretch, when the game was close, the Pacers were more than fine throwing Nembhard on SGA and letting him handle it. Nembhard is fine with it, too. Advertisement And we know Gilgeous-Alexander. We've seen enough. His second nature is also to embrace the competition. He inhales the smoke, as they say. He just talks trash with minimal words and maybe a cryptic social media post. He just declares his supremacy through brilliance and a tangible, if unspoken, bravado. And so far in these playoffs, defeats have prompted a response from SGA. In the Thunder's first loss of the postseason, Game 1 in the second round against the Denver Nuggets, he had 33 points on 26 shots. In Game 2, he had 34 points on 11-for-13 shooting. He had 18 in the Game 3 loss to Denver and 25 in the Game 4 win. He followed his 32 in the Game 6 loss with 35 in Game 7. Against the Minnesota Timberwolves in the Western Conference finals, SGA was 4-for-13 in a blowout loss in Game 3. But in Game 4, he dropped 40. Now, he's on the biggest stage of his life, coming off a loss that reverberated around the globe. His team is facing a relative must-win game. And his brother from another, who's driven to prove himself, took Round 1. 'I always try to be aggressive and I never, like, predetermine it,' SGA said. 'I always, like, just let the game tell me what to do. So I guess last game, I felt more often than not, I had a shot or a play that I could attack on more than in the past, and that's just the way it went. So the same thing will happen in Game 2. I will read the defense, and I will play off my feeling and my instincts, and if it's calling for me to shoot or if it's calling me to pass, is what I will decide to do.' Round 2 on deck. (Photo of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Andrew Nembhard: Matthew Stockman / Getty Images)
