Category: College Softball

Florida, Oklahoma, LSU, and Iowa athletes nominated for ESPY awards

LSU and Iowa will battle it out again, but this time they won’t be wearing basketball shoes or playing on the hardwood.

2023 ESPY award nominations have been announced and Florida, Oklahoma, LSU, and Iowa all have athletes nominated for awards. The 2023 ESPYs will air live on Wednesday, July 12, at 8 p.m. ET on ABC from Los Angeles.

LSU and Iowa will battle it out again, but this time they won’t be wearing basketball shoes or playing on the hardwood. Iowa’s Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese of LSU will vie for position against Brock Purdy of the San Francisco 49ers, and Julio Rodrรญguez of the Seattle Mariners for the Best Breakthrough Athlete award.

Gymnast Trinity Thomas of Florida is nominated for Best Play for her perfect 10 which tied the All-Time NCAA record. She is the only Florida athlete represented in the nominations. She competes for the award against UCLA soccer player Ally Lemos with the perfect corner to tie the National Championship game and two other professional athletes.

Oklahoma Sooners softball and LSU women’s basketball are nominated for Best Team. The Sooners will also be represented as softball player Jordy Bahl is nominated for Best College Athlete, Women’s Sports along withย  Caitlin Clark, Izzy Scane of Northwestern Lacrosse, and Trinity Thomas.

Recipients of the Arthur Ashe Award for Courage, the Jimmy V Award for Perseverance, and the Pat Tillman Award for Service will be announced next week.

Twitter reacts: Oklahoma Sooners softball win 3rd consecutive national title

What was your reaction to the Oklahoma Sooners winning a third straight softball title?

The Oklahoma Sooners are the 2023 Women’s College World Series (WCWS) champions. This is the third time in a row they have accomplished the feat. The Sooners won in 2021 and 2022.

They defeated the Florida Seminoles in two games during the finals of the WCWS. Florida State and Oklahoma met in the 2021 championshipย where Oklahoma started its national title winning streak.

The championship series takes place at the USA Softball Hall of Fame Stadium in Oklahoma City. Some reactions to Sooners’ dominance is that they have an unfair advantage because they play in Oklahoma. However, others put that theory to rest and lauded the school’s dominance over the years.

Here are some social media reactions to the Sooner’s win.

WCWS finals drew almost 100 million social media impressions in two days

The top six games of the WCWS semifinals all had over one million viewers.

The Women’s College World Series is up three percentage in viewership year-over-year through the semifinals, according to ESPN. The most-viewed game of 2023, before the title series, was University of Tennessee versus the Oklahoma Sooners which had 1.4 million viewers and was broadcast on ABC. The top six games of the semifinals all had over one million viewers.

The Sooners went on to win it all, making it the third time in a row Oklahoma has taken home the national championship, only the second team in history to complete the feat.

The championship series was between the Sooners and the Florida State Seminoles,ย  who last met in the title series back in 2021, where Oklahoma started its national title winning streak.

The Sooners defeated the Florida State Seminoles in two games and extended their win streak to 53 games, which is the longest winning streak in collegiate softball history.

Even though the championship series wasn’t drawn out, the social media impressions and viewership numbers were quite impressive. Game 1 of the series boasted 1.3 million viewers with a peak at 1.5 million. While Game 2 had 1.9 million viewers with a peak of 2.3 million with an average viewership for the championship series at 1.6 million viewers. The viewership for the series was up seven percent year-over-year.

The social media numbers were impressive as well with the series garnering almost one hundred million impressions in just two days, according to Zoomph.

Sooners sweep the WCWS and take home 3rd consecutive national title

See which record the Sooners broke with their championship win.

The Sooners have done it again and broken a few records in the process. Oklahoma Sooners softball has taken home their third straight NCAA National Championship. The Sooners defeated the Florida State Seminoles in two games and extended their win streak to 53 games.

The Sooners won in 2021 and 2022 while the Seminolesโ€™ last title was in 2018. Florida State and Oklahomaย met in the 2021 championshipย where Oklahoma started its national title winning streak.

Either title would be impressive on its own, but doing it all at the same time is well, history-making. The Sooners now hold the longest win streak in college softball history, far surpassing the 1996-1997 Arizona Wildcats who held the record previously at 47 games.

It had been 367 days since the Sooners lost a game in the Women’s College World Series. However, the journey this season hasn’t been smooth sailing.

“I think this really was the roughest (season) I’ve ever had to go through just because of with lots of fans and the growth of the sport comes a lot of pressure. I think I’ve felt that and they (our players) have felt that,” said head coach Patty Gasso.

The Sooners are now โ€œonly the second team in history to win three consecutive national titles (UCLA 1988-90).โ€

“It’s so crazy to see how our lives have changed,” Gasso said. “The fans in Oklahoma are absolutely fantastic, (but) it starts to feel like you’re getting smothered a little bit because everybody wants something. I heard (our players) talking about it. For all of us it’s different. I just want to coach. All of a sudden, your life isn’t regular anymore. So that’s really where they talk a little bit about mental health. It’s so different being a student-athlete now. I mean, it’s completely different. The expectations of everything. The fact that we got here and we won this is just mind-boggling with all of the wave of pressure and so forth. I could not be more proud of this group.

“To be sitting up here and telling you this is still kind of amazing because everybody’s out to get us. They want to bring down the Evil Empire, whatever it is. I don’t know. We just want to play ball. That’s all. Jayda Coleman wants to rob home runs. Tiare Jennings wants to hit doubles and be clutch. That’s how they’re made.”

This is the seventh national title in program history and the sixth in the past 10 years for Patty Gasso’s Sooners.

Sooners softball is one win away from making history

Should Oklahoma win game 2, they will make history.

Oklahoma softball defeated Florida State, 5-0, in the first game of the Women’s College World Series championship series. The national title is a best-of-three series and the Sooners are one win away from winning their third straight title.

The Sooners won in 2021 and 2022 while the Seminoles’ last title was in 2018. Florida State and Oklahoma met in the 2021 championship where Oklahoma started its national title winning streak.

Oklahoma also has a 52-game winning streak, the longest win streak in collegiate softball history. With their win against Florida State, the Sooners now have a school-record 35 shutouts this season. The Sooners are one win away from becoming “only the second team in history to win three consecutive national titles (UCLA 1988-90).”

“It’s always really good to get that first win under your belt — really important,” Sooners coachย Patty Gasso said. “Our team was really focused for that. The rain situation and all of the lightning and so forth kind of put a wrench in it.

“It felt like a little bit of rushing. It was just uncharacteristic of what the beginning of a Championship Series would feel like. Watching all the fans go in and out, it was just … Some were not moving at all [smiling]. It’s a big moment. Everybody wants to see it.

“I think we started off a little bit nervous. We had a little conversation as a group. They decided we need to be more like us and stop trying (so hard). We don’t try hard, we just play. We were trying hard. You can see the difference.”

2023 Womenโ€™s College World Series Championship Series, schedule, TV networks (all times ET):

  • No. 1 Oklahoma vs. No. 3 Florida Stateย | June 8, 7:30 p.m. | ESPN
  • No. 1 Oklahoma vs. No. 3 Florida Stateย  (if necessary)ย | June 9, 8 p.m. | ESPN

Get more Oklahoma news, analysis, and opinions on Sooners Wire

National championship in the Women’s College World Series begins Wednesday

Oklahoma, Florida State will face off for the title.

The stage is set for the Women’s College World Series national championship series with the [autotag]Oklahoma Sooners[/autotag] and [autotag]Florida State Seminoles[/autotag] being the last two teams. These two teams met in the championship in 2021 where Oklahoma walked away with the national title.

Oklahoma has a 51-game winning streak, the longest win streak in collegiate softball history. They are defending their 2022 title as well, so there is a lot on the line for the Sooners. It took Oklahoma nine innings to defeat Stanford to head to the championship series.

However, Florida State didn’t need any extra innings to beat Tennessee, continue their undefeated Women’s College World Series tour, and advance to the title series. They downed Tennessee 5-1 in the national semifinal. The Seminoles won the national title in 2018 and are fighting for their second national championship in five years.

Florida Stateโ€™s pitcher, Kathryn Sandercock, made school history when she pitched a perfect game against South Carolina to advance her team to Super Regionals. It feels like the Seminoles are on a streak and they might be the team with the advantage heading into the series.

The Seminoles and Sooners will play a best-of-three series to decide the 2023 champion.

2023 Women’s College World Series Championship Series, schedule, TV networks (all times ET):

  • No. 1 Oklahoma vs. No. 3 Florida Stateย | June 7, 8 p.m. | ESPN
  • No. 1 Oklahoma vs. No. 3 Florida Stateย | June 8, 7:30 p.m. | ESPN
  • No. 1 Oklahoma vs. No. 3 Florida Stateย  (if necessary)ย | June 9, 8 p.m. | ESPN

Get more Oklahoma news, analysis, and opinions on Sooners Wire

WCWS national semifinal teams are set, four remain

As the end of the Women’s College World Series draws near, the final four teams are set.

And then there were four. On Sunday, the four teams who advanced to the national semifinals were set. The last four teams remaining in the race to the Women’s College World Series are No. 1 Oklahoma, No. 3 Florida State, No. 4 Tennessee, and No. 9 Stanford.

All four teams are in action on Monday where they battle it out to see who will play in the championship series. There could be only two games or up to four games depending on which team wins. Tennessee and Stanford must win twice to move on to the championship series, but Oklahoma and Florida State need one win to head to the finals.

Stanford defeated No. 7 Washington and Tennessee took down No. 6 Oklahoma State to move onto the semifinals.

The championship series runs from June 7-9, if necessary, and isย a best-of-three series for the championship.

All games will air on ESPN, all times in ET.

Monday’s schedule

  • Game 11 |ย No. 1 Oklahomaย vs. No. 9 Stanfordย | 12 p.m. | ESPN
  • Game 12 (if necessary) | 2:30 p.m. | ESPN
  • Game 13 |ย No. 3 Florida State vs. No. 4 Tennesseeย | 7 p.m. | ESPN
  • Game 14ย (if necessary) | 9:30ย p.m. | ESPN

6 teams remain in Women’s College World Series

Is your team still in the Women’s College World Series?

The race to the Women’s College World Series (WCWS) championship game is slowly closing in and two teams have been eliminated from the tournament. The Utah Utes and the Alabama Crimson Tide were eliminated on Friday which means only six teams remain in the chase for a national title.

The remaining teams are battling it out on Saturday, Sunday, and Monday to determine who makes it to the final set of games. There are two brackets and when a team loses a game it is sent to an elimination bracket to battle its way back into the main bracket. However, once a team loses its second game, then the team is eliminated from the WCWS.

The remaining teams in bracket one are No. 1 Oklahoma, No. 4 Tennessee, and No. 9 Stanford. The remaining teams in bracket two are No. 3 Florida State, No. 6 Oklahoma State, and No. 7 Washington.

The winner from bracket one and bracket two will then play in a best-of-three series for the championship. The championship series runs from June 7-9, if necessary.

Here is the schedule for the remaining games in bracket one and bracket two before championship play starts on June 7. All times are ET.

June 3
  • Game 7 |ย No. 1 Oklahoma vs. No. 4 Tennessee | 3 p.m. | ABC
  • Game 8 |ย No. 3 Florida State vs. No. 7 Washington | 7 p.m. | ESPN
June 4
  • Game 9 |ย No. 9 Stanford vs. Loser of Game 8ย | 3 p.m. | ABC
  • Game 10 |ย No. 6 Oklahoma State vs. Loser of Game 7ย | 7 p.m. | ESPN2
June 5
  • Game 11 |ย Winner of Game 7 vs. Winner of Game 9ย | 12 p.m. | ESPN
  • Game 12 (if necessary) | 2:30 p.m. | ESPN
  • Game 13 |ย Winner of Game 8 vs. Winner of Game 10ย | 7 p.m. | ESPN
  • Game 14ย (if necessary) | 9:30ย p.m. | ESPN

Utah ready for Women’s College World Series for first time since 1994

Who do you think will win the matchup between Washington and Utah?

The No. 15 Utah Utes beat the San Diego State Aztecs 7-2 to advance to their first Women’s College World Series (WCWS) since 1994. This will be the sixth program appearance at the WCWS and they will face No. 7 Washington in Oklahoma City on Thursday at 9:30 p.m. ET on ESPN.

โ€œI think we play better if we believe we are the underdog, so I think we are making sure to stay on that plane,โ€ coachย Amy Hogueย told the Deseret News Wednesday afternoon. โ€œBut we know better. We have beat the best of the best, and we know if we play loose we can beat anybody.โ€
Washington and Utah are both in the Pac-12 Conference, so they are familiar with each other’s games. However, the Utes seem to be peaking at just the right time and San Diego State’s head coach had glowing words for them after her team’s loss.
โ€œTheyโ€™re a gritty squad. Weโ€™ve played some really, really good teams this year and I feel like โ€ฆ everybody (at Utah) can do everything in terms of, they have a short game,โ€ said Aztecs head coach Stacey Nuveman Deniz. โ€œAs a defense, itโ€™s hard to play them. They seem to be playing with a lot of confidence. I think theyโ€™re going go in and make some noise. You saw what they did in the Pac-12 tournament. Theyโ€™ve got a complete team and theyโ€™re inspired. Thatโ€™s a pretty dangerous combination.โ€
Coach Deniz is referring to Utah winning the 2023 Pac-12 softball tournament championship after beating No. 1 seed UCLA 7-4.

The WCWS is a double-elimination format and the final two teams play a best-of-three series for the national championship beginning June 7. The tournament runs from June 1 โ€“ June 9, if necessary.

The stage is set for the Women’s College World Series

Did your team make it to the Women’s College World Series?

The stage is set for the 2023 Women’s College World Series (WCWS) and eight teams advanced. All eight teams will be in action Thursday at OGE Energy Field at the USA Softball Hall of Fame Complex in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

The No. 1 ranked Oklahoma Sooners are looking to defend their 2022 national title while No. 15 Utah is advancing to the WCWS for the first time since 1994. All games will be broadcast on ESPN.

The WCWS is a double-elimination format and the final two teams play a best-of-three series for the national championship beginning June 7. The tournament runs from June 1 – June 9, if necessary.

The race to the WCWS started with 64 teams and was slowly whittled down to just the Elite 8.

Here are the eight teams left in the tournament, all times in ET.