The No. 1 Sooners were the team to win this year, and the re-bid of the defending championship begins with a match against the Northwest team’s record-breaking team.
Sarah Phipps / Oklahoma / USA Today Network
More than two weeks ago, 64 teams broke their tickets for the NCAA 2022 softball tournament. The field is ranked among the eight best programs in the country and the stage for the 40th World Women’s College Series has been prepared. As each team hopes to storm the mound in celebration and lift the WCWS championship trophy at the United States Hall of Fame in Oklahoma City, the last eight teams this year are an intriguing group.
Five are in the top 16, including three teams that won the top eight before the tournament. However, beyond college softball, which became a staple at this time of year, the remaining field also includes three dangerous unoccupied teams that aim to continue their journey until the final is called.
The WCWS takes effect on Thursday, as reigning No. 1 champion Oklahoma will face a record No. 9 from the Northwest Team, which returns to the biggest stage in the sport for the first time since 2007. UCLA Softball College No. 5 will fights Texas, one of three unplanned teams that want to keep Cinderella’s season alive after beating some of the best teams in the country.
The two-time national champion No. 14 Florida, who last finished as WCWS runner-up in 2017 and made his last appearance in Oklahoma City in ’19, will face an Oregon team that returns to the WCWS for the first time since ’06. when he finished fifth in the Pac-12 rankings for the regular season. No. 7 Oklahoma State, a program that is making its third consecutive WCWS appearance, will seek to overcome the problem when it faces an unseeded Arizona team that has overcome its path to its 25th WCWS appearance since 1988. But before games to get started, here are a few things you need to know about this year’s WCWS.
The dominance of Oklahoma, UCLA and Florida
Oklahoma, UCLA and Florida have teamed up for seven of the last 10 championships, giving an accurate description of the three conferences – the Big 12, Pac-12 and SEC – that have dominated the sport over the years. While the Bruins are the only leader for the most WCWS titles (13), the Sauners have tightened their muscles, winning four titles in the last 10 years and three in 2016.
Oklahoma coach Patti Gaso has placed No. 1 Sooners to return the sixth championship trophy in the WCWS program back to Norman, backed by explosive crime and stellar targeting. Oklahoma boasts the best player of the year at Jocelyn Alo College, who has recorded more home runs (117) than any other player in Division I history and is second in the country in midfield (.497). But the outfielder’s production is not the end of everything in Sooners’ offensive arsenal. The team itself is currently at the top of the nation in midfield (.369) and there are also players like Tiare Jennings and Grace Lions who have combined for 45 Homers this season. Then think of the three Sooners pitchers: Hope Troutwine, who scored 18-1 while sitting on top of the country with a 0.40 ERA; Jordi Ball, the nation’s freshman of the year, who scored an 0.95 ERA and scored 21-1 as a starter; and Nicole May, who made 15-0 and recorded a 0.99 ERA. Although anything can happen, Oklahoma seems prepared to compete in the latest WCWS game.
UCLA, which had a run of 25 wins earlier this season, has been suspended for three years from its last WCWS title in 2019 under coach Kelly Inoye-Perez. Bruins’ path to success included overcoming injuries to key players such as Maya Brady, Tom Brady’s niece, and fielder Delaney Weiss, who played big games when it was most important. Brady has recorded goals in 10 of Bruins’ last 11 games, including three against three, two RBI appearances against Duke in the Super Regional victory. Wisz, who currently has an average hit of 0.500 in the postseason, has published three goals and four RBIs in the Super Regionals. The performances of Wisz, Brady and this year’s Pacher-12 Pitcher of the Year, Megan Faraimo, will play a major role in determining whether Bruins will secure its 14th championship in the program’s history.
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Gators coach Tim Walton leads Florida to the WCWS after the program last won consecutive championships in 2014 and ’15 and finished as runner-up in ’17. In a crowded SEC field that included five teams receiving the top 16 placed, no. 14 Florida is the only team in the league left in the tournament. Watch out for fielder Skyler Wallace, who is the driving force behind the Gators’ attack. In the 12-0 victory of Florida against No. 3 from Virginia Tech in the Super Regionals, Wallace collected four RBIs. It leads in Florida in medium strike (.406), home run (eight), RBIs (53), common bases (117) and breakout rate (.669). During the tournament, Florida outscored its opponents by 47-10.
Wildcats ace Daniel Williams has started all three games for Northwestern in the Super Regional.
Patrick Bryn / USA Today Network
Northwestern: The best of the Big Ten
The Wildcats are returning to WCWS for the first time in 15 years and are one of four teams seeking their first NCAA softball championship. Northwestern finished the regular season at the top of the Big Ten rankings and was the only team in the league to win the top 16 in this year’s tournament, although it did not win the conference. Katie Drohan, Wildcats coach, aims to translate the program beyond her farthest point in the tournament as WCWS runner-up in 2006. With a tough match against the Sooners, the program is thought to have been produced by Rachel’s Big Ten Player of the Year Lewis and pitcher of the year of the Big Ten Daniel Williams at key moments this season. If Northwestern hopes to disappoint against Oklahoma, his chances are in the game of both Lewis and Williams, who gave 91% of the Wildcats’ innings throughout the tournament, beating the other teams on the field by a double-digit advantage.
Oklahoma: Serving the Cowgirls
The Cowgirls didn’t like the way their season ended a year ago at WCWS, they lost to James Madison and Florida State. Cowgirls coach Kenny Gaevski is hoping for a different outcome this time. OSU will strive to do this with Kelly Maxwell’s Big 12 Pitcher of the Year, which changed the game with an average of 11.6 outs in seven innings (leading in the Big 12 and second in the country). Behind Maxwell, Miranda Elish, a two-sided star, was hitting and aiming for OSU. However, Elish, the 2020 National Player of the Year in America, has not participated in the program since injuring a biceps tendon on April 24, but is still hitting. Elish will watch his younger sister Maddie play for Arizona as the two teams fight for the diamond. With Miranda out of the rotation, Morgan Day is likely to replace her. Day came as a relief pitcher when the Cowgirls defeated the Sooners in the Big 12 title game, becoming the second team to beat Oklahoma this season. Between Maxwell (279), Miranda (128) and Day (104), the three listed a three-figure total for one season for the first time in the program’s history. But in addition to the release, the Cowgirls will also rely on strikers Sidney Pennington, Julia Cotril and Chien Factor to lead OSU to victory against Arizona.
Dangerous unplaced teams
Texas and Oregon are joining Northwestern as three teams try to conquer a blue blood caliber program on their way to winning their first NCAA softball championship. Arizona, though unoccupied in this year’s tournament, is no stranger to the game after the season, nor to winning championships, as the Wildcats have won eight in the history of the program, the second most since the Pac-12 UCLA.
The Longhorns spent the entire postseason on the road, knocking down No. 13 in Washington and beating the SEC’s top-ranked team, No. 4 Arkansas, in the Super Regional. In order for Texas to continue its Cinderella season, the Longhorns have the task of slowing down Bruins’ offensive production, limiting mistakes, and receiving timely strikes for running. Texas pitcher Hailey Dolcini and field player Janae Johnson, who leads the program in average hits (.431) and breakout rates (.649), and is second in stolen bases (16) and third in RBIs (33).
An injury prevented Miranda Elish from heading to the Beavers, but she is still a star on the plate.
Sarah Phipps / Oklahoma / USA Today Network
Meanwhile, the Beavers have won 39 games this season, most under Oregon coach Laura Berg. Hoping to defeat Florida, the Beavers will rely on All-Pac-12 pitcher Mariah Mazen to slow the Gators’ offensive. Entering the WCWS, Mazon held opponents with an average strike of .192. The other key part of the victory in the state of Oregon comes from the game of the weakening Frankie Hamoud, who leads the team in home runs (15), average shot (.386) and percentage of base (.508).
Arizona barely managed to make this year’s tournament in Caitlin Lowe’s first year as head coach after the retirement of legendary Mike Candrea after the 2021 season. The Wildcats are a classic case of a program that started playing best at the right time. Arizona won two exceptions against Missouri and two wins against Mississippi State to become the only unbeaten team that remained flawless on the way to WCWS. To recapture Oklahoma and keep the season alive, Arizona will rely on ace pitcher Hannah Bowen and infiltrator Ali Skags, an All-Pac-12 member who recorded 24 home runs, a median strike of .371 and a base rate of .460. Although this is Lowe’s first year as a coach, she spent four seasons as an associate head coach of the program at Candrea and played in the last Wildcats teams that won championships in ’06 and ’07. Could Arizona be on the brink of the ninth title in the program? This remains to be seen as WCWS deploys.