The abrupt cancellation of college softball put a premature end to what looked to be an epic season. To celebrate (and lament) those players and teams whose seasons were cut short, here’s a recap of the five biggest stories we weren’t ready to have end:

 

1. The farewell tours of two shortstop greats

The 2020 season was supposed to provide us one last look at two of the best dual threat shortstops in recent memory: Sis Bates and Jessie Harper (neither of whom have given any indication that they plan to pursue a fifth year next season).

Bates, my number one player to watch this year, was the rare player whose fielding abilities made her must-watch entertainment. The reigning two-time Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year and two-time first team All-American, Bates’ spectacular defensive plays made her both a Washington legend and a national treasure. I know I speak for countless fans across the country when I say that I already miss seeing her make the plays that only she could make:

The abrupt cancellation of college softball put a premature end to what looked to be an epic season. To celebrate (and lament) those players and teams whose seasons were cut short, here’s a recap of the five biggest stories we weren’t ready to have end: 1. The farewell tours of two shortstop greats

It’s the 22nd, so why not check out some highlights of number 22? #MightyAreTheWomen pic.twitter.com/skpdvIzk87

— Washington Softball (@UWSoftball) March 22, 2020

Harper, the number two player on my pre-season watch list, was another two-time All-American who led the NCAA in home runs last year. Even with the shortened season, she led the Pac-12 in home runs with 10. This means that every year of her college career, Harper was either first or second for home runs in the conference. Talk about leaving a legacy. Her 76 career home runs are just 19 shy of the NCAA record. Against Team USA, Harper lit up arguably one of the best pitchers in the world, hitting two home runs against Cat Osterman. Though the Wildcats lost, there’s no doubt Harper caught the eye of Team USA’s coaches. Could Tokyo 2021 be next on her agenda?

Jessie moves into a tie with @JennyDaltonHill for fifth in Arizona history with career home run No. 76, tied for 12th most in NCAA history! pic.twitter.com/7xZpi3lHKH

— Arizona Softball (@ArizonaSoftball) March 11, 2020

2. UCLA looked ready to repeat

The Bruins began and ended 2020 ranked No. 1, racking up a decisive 25-1 record along the way. Before conference play and just before the season was cut short, the Bruins were coming off a dominant double-header, with freshman Lexi Sosa pitching UCLA’s first perfect game since 2008, followed by a 4-0 shutout win over No. 18 Minnesota. Such performances made it seem almost certain, even this early in the season, that UCLA was bound for the WCWS. Would they have repeated as champs? I think they would have.

It’s also worth noting that Rachel Garcia, UCLA’s all-world dual threat pitcher and hitter (and the 2019 WCWS MVP) took this college season off to train with Team USA for the Olympics. Now that the Olympics are postponed, it seems unlikely that Garcia will return to UCLA next season as she will now need to train for Tokyo 2021.

 

3. Conference play was just around the corner

This may be the most depressing face of the shortened season: teams were only just beginning to enter conference play. While the early season tournaments were fun to watch, they are traditionally such a steep learning curve that it’s difficult to know how exactly a team will do just based on their opening slate of games. We saw a lot of early upsets this year, including more than a few ranked teams losing to unranked opponents (UNC took down then No. 2 Alabama and Loyola Marymount upset then No. 4 LSU, among others). While these were exciting to watch, they didn’t give us a clear picture of how the rest of the year would have gone. Odds are that both the Pac-12 and the SEC would have gone down to the wire, with No. 1 UCLA, No. 2 Washington, and No. 4 Arizona fighting out west while No. 5 LSU, No. 7 Florida, and No. 10 Alabma duked it out down south. Fans of the sport will spend a long time lamenting the fact that we never got to see those conference tilts.

 

4. Miranda Elish was making things happen in the circle. 

The NCAA is losing a lot (and I mean, a lot) of great pitchers this season. One of the most notable is Miranda Elish, who transferred to Texas from Oregon in 2019 after going 37-2 during her time with the Ducks. At the time, Elish was touted as the missing piece that Texas needed in order to be competitive again. The last memorable pitcher to don the burnt orange was 4-time All-American and 2-time Olympic medalist Cat Osterman, who graduated in 2006. After taking a nasty accidental throw to the face from her own catcher in last year’s postseason, Elish made a complete recovery and was back this season with a vengeance. In 84 innings, she recorded 96 strikeouts, with 11 of those coming in a season high performance against Fresno State. Her most notable game, however, was a 7-0 win over New Mexico, when Elish tossed her third career no-hitter and second perfect game.

Miranda magic! ✨#NCAASoftball | ???? @TexasSoftball pic.twitter.com/tpdKIAcWe3

— NCAA Softball (@NCAAsoftball) March 8, 2020

5. Speaking of Texas…

The Longhorns were having one of the best seasons in program history under new coach Mike White. White brought along four Oregon transfers with him when he moved south in 2019, including Elish. In the short 2020 season the team finished No. 3 in the country with a 24-3 record. And with Elish pitching as well as she was, the Longhorns appeared on track to not only win the Big 12, but potentially return to the WCWS for the first time since 2013. They were the only team to beat No. 1 UCLA this year, on the same weekend that they also took down No. 2 Washington. Those kinds of wins will have Longhorns fans wondering for years to come about what could have been in 2020.

Longtime USWNT fixture Carli Lloyd took to Instagram Wednesday morning to announce that she’s pregnant with her first child. 

"Baby Hollins coming in October 2024!" she wrote. The caption framed a collaged image of baby clothes, an ultrasound photo, and syringes indicating what she described as a "rollercoaster" fertility journey.

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In a Women’s Health story published in tandem with Lloyd’s post, the Fox Sports analyst and correspondent opened up about her struggles with infertility and the lengthy IVF treatments she kept hidden from the public eye.

"Soccer taught me how to work hard, persevere, be resilient, and never give up. I would do whatever it took to prepare, and usually when I prepared, I got results," Lloyd told Women’s Health’s Amanda Lucci. "But I found out that I didn’t know much about this world. I was very naive to think that we wouldn’t have any issues getting pregnant. And so it began."

Lloyd went on to discuss her road to pregnancy in great detail, sharing the highs and lows of the process and expressing gratitude for the care and support her family and medical team provided along the way. She rounded out the piece with a nod toward others navigating the same challenges, encouraging people to share their own pregnancy journeys, painful as they may be.

"My story is currently a happy one, but I know there are other women who are facing challenges in their pregnancy journey. I see you and I understand your pain," she said. "My hope is that more and more women will speak up about this topic, because their stories helped me. I also wish for more resources, funding, and education around fertility treatments. There is much to be done, and I hope I can play a role in helping."

The 41-year-old New Jersey native retired from professional soccer in 2021, closing out her decorated career with 316 international appearances, the second-most in USWNT history, in addition to 134 international goals. A legend on the field, Lloyd walked away from the game with two World Cups, two Olympic gold medals, and two FIFA Player of the Year awards.

On Tuesday, FIFPRO announced the launch of Project ACL, a three-year research initiative designed to address a steep uptick in ACL injuries across women's professional football.

Project ACL is a joint venture between FIFPRO, England’s Professional Footballers’ Association (PFA), Nike, and Leeds Beckett University. While the central case study will focus on England’s top-flight Women's Super League, the findings will be distributed around the world.

ACL tears are between two- and six-times more likely to occur in women footballers than men, according to The Guardian. And with both domestic and international programming on the rise for the women’s game, we’ve seen some of the sport's biggest names moved to the season-ending injury list with ACL-related knocks.

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Soccer superstars like Vivianne Miedema, Beth Mead, Catarina Macario, Marta, and England captain Leah Williamson have all struggled with their ACLs in recent years, though all have since returned to the field. In January, Chelsea and Australia forward Sam Kerr was herself sidelined with the injury, kicking off a year of similar cases across women’s professional leagues. And just yesterday, the Spirit announced defender Anna Heilferty would miss the rest of the NWSL season with a torn ACL. The news comes less than two weeks after Bay FC captain Alex Loera went down with the same injury. 

Project ACL will closely study players in the WSL, monitoring travel, training, and recovery practices to look for trends that could be used to prevent the injury in the future. Availability of sports science and medical resources within individual clubs will be taken into account throughout the process.

ACL injuries in women's football have long outpaced the same injury in the men's game, but resources for specialized prevention and treatment still lag behind. Investment in achieving a deeper, more specialized understanding of the problem should hopefully alleviate the issue both on and off the field.

With recent transfers Talia von Oelhoffen and Kiki Iriafen joining first-team All-American JuJu Watkins and the nation’s No. 1 recruiting class at USC next season, the Trojans look to transition from an up-and-coming squad to a legitimate title contender. 

Former Oregon State graduate student von Oelhoffen is the latest collegiate talent to commit to the program, announcing her transfer Monday via ESPN. She follows ex-Stanford leading-scorer Iriafen in the jump to the pair’s one-time Pac-12 rival.

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The 5-foot-11 Washington native was a two-time All-Pac-12 guard during her time at Oregon State. But after the recent dissolution of the Pac-12, the Corvallis side found themselves without a permanent home conference going forward. Many big name players opted to take their skill elsewhere as a result, with von Oelhoffen’s fellow ex-Beaver Raegan Beers announcing her own departure to Oklahoma on Monday.

According to DraftKings, USC is now tied with UConn for the second-best betting odds to win the 2025 NCAA women’s tournament. Dawn Staley’s tested South Carolina side, poised for a repeat performance, holds down the number one spot.

Last year, LSU loaded up in the transfer portal after beating Iowa to win the 2023 national championship. The Tigers were clear favorites coming into the 2023-24 season, but were bounced in the Elite Eight by Caitlin Clark’s Hawkeyes. Shortly thereafter, star transfer Hailey Van Lith opted to transfer a second time, this time signing with TCU. 

Yet while history proves that an excess of star power doesn’t always translate to on-court chemistry, on paper, USC sure looks ready to hold their own — in 2025 and beyond.

The United States and Mexico have withdrawn their joint bid to host the 2027 Women’s World Cup, per a Monday afternoon release from U.S. Soccer and the Mexican Football Federation.

According to the statement, they will instead focus on developing a "more equitable" bid for the 2031 tournament, with the ultimate goal of "eliminating investment disparities" between the men’s and women’s tournaments.

The federations went on to cite the upcoming 2026 Men’s World Cup in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico as an opportunity to build support for local infrastructure, improve audience engagement, and scale up media and partnership deals in preparation to "host a record-breaking tournament in 2031."

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"Hosting a World Cup tournament is a huge undertaking — and having additional time to prepare allows us to maximize its impact across the globe," said U.S. Soccer President Cindy Parlow Cone. "Shifting our bid will enable us to host a record-breaking Women’s World Cup in 2031 that will help to grow and raise the level of the women’s game both here at home as well as across the globe."

The decision leaves just Brazil and a joint bid from Belgium, Germany, and the Netherlands in the running for the 2027 host spot. Brazil — the rumored frontrunner — has never hosted a Women’s World Cup, while Germany hosted the 2011 tournament as a solo venture. 

Furthermore, this postponement doesn’t mean the U.S. is a shoo-in for 2031, as it's been previously reported that 2022 UEFA Women's EURO host England is considering their own Women's World Cup bid. FIFA is scheduled to confirm the winning bid after the FIFA Congress votes on May 17th.