After a grueling weekend of softball, the stage is finally set for the Women's College World Series. This is the penultimate series of games that make up the Division I NCAA Softball Tournament. You might remember from my past posts that we started with 64 teams and quickly found ourselves at 16 teams after a weekend of double elimination games.
Then, eight of those sixteen teams went head to head with the other eight in the Super Regionals in a best of three format. That led us to a final eight teams that will now play in a double elimination format to determine the two teams that will be facing off in the championship game.
It's been a wild ride to get here, so let's talk about the eight teams that are left.
Texas A&M made Texas work a little harder to get their ticket to the WCWS but the Longhorns advance after a 2 to 1 series. Likewise, LSU gave Stanford a bit of fight, but Standford eventually move along to join Texas in the first bracket 2 to 1.
Rounding out the first bracket, Florida had a good series against Baylor seeing them win two games to one to advance. Finally, Oklahoma State swept Arizona to complete the first bracket. I'm a bit sad about that one as I really expected Arizona to do better. They were playing quite well in the Regional games. I honestly find that one a bit shocking.
Starting the second bracket, Alabama edged out Tennessee two games to one to dash any hopes I had of the Volunteers making it to the championship game. I'm pretty salty about that especially given my loathing for all things Alabama. Additionally, UCLA swept Georgia to make it to the WCWS. Oklahoma swept Florida State as well, and finally, Duke took Missouri to three games to finally make it into the second bracket.
Looking at these two brackets, it's hard not to think that Oklahoma is going to come out on top of the second one. They have just been so dominant the past several years. I'd love to see UCLA stun them though. As far as Duke and Bama, I hope they get knocked out fairly quickly.
For the first bracket, I am going to be cheering for Stanford, but it will probably be more likely that Oklahoma State or Texas makes it to the Championship game. Double elimination is tricky though and you never quite know what you are going to end up with.
World series games start at noon in two days and you better believe I will be keeping track of them so I can share it here with you.
Who do you think is going to make it to the finals? Who would you like to see? Any favorites in that list of eight schools?
Let me know in the comments!
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I choose Texas, only because I’m a fan of this state!
That's a good enough reason for me. They are the #1 seed this year, so you might not be wrong!