The NCAA Division I softball tournament starts Friday, with all 64 teams aiming to advance to the Women’s College World Series.

No. 1 Oklahoma once again headlines one of the 16 regionals as the Sooners look to defend last year’s title.

But No. 2 Florida State, No. 3 Virginia Tech, No. 4 Arkansas and No. 5 UCLA will make their case as title contenders. UCLA has won the most NCAA softball titles of any program and once again fields a strong team, while Florida State will be looking to avenge its loss in last year’s final series.

Can anyone stop Oklahoma?

Entering regionals, Oklahoma owns the top spot in the NCAA in team batting average (.367), runs per game (9.26) and ERA (0.81). The Sooners have lost just two games and have won 35 of their 49 games via run rule.

Only two teams have beaten Oklahoma this season, and both are in the tournament. Texas knocked off the Sooners during the regular season, ending their 40-game winning streak. Oklahoma State, meanwhile, got their Bedlam revenge in the Big 12 tournament to win their first-ever conference tournament title.

But aside from the two stumbles, Oklahoma has been largely unbeatable all season long. It’s a similar tune to last year, when the Sooners beat Florida State in three games to win the national title.

Jocelyn Alo has continued to be a formidable force at the plate, breaking the NCAA record for most career home runs across baseball or softball. In the circle, Hope Trautwein (.31), Jordyn Bahl (.95) and Nicole May (1.11) all rank in the top 10 for ERA, creating a triple threat that teams have had a hard time going up against.

While the Sooners certainly aren’t infallible, they are the hardest draw in the tournament when both sides of the ball are clicking. They’ve been in this position before and have always known how to respond. The question is, will their opponents?

Which one of the newcomers will make a splash?

Of the 64 teams featured in this year’s tournament, four are making their appearance for the first time: Grand Canyon University, North Texas, Murray State and UNC Wilmington.

Murray State holds the best team ERA of the grouping, standing at 1.47 and good for third in the country. The Racers won the Ohio Valley Conference tournament title for the first time last weekend, won their first regular-season championship and amassed 40 wins on the season.

But they’ll be going up against Stanford in the first round — and they could be rattled after being involved in a bus crash Wednesday en route to their regional site. Three members of the team were hospitalized non-life-threatening injuries, and the rest of the team was unharmed, but they’ll face a quick turnaround for Friday’s game.

Grand Canyon, in its first year under Shannon Hays, has had quite a season, winning its first Western Athletic Conference Tournament championship.

With three transfers that boast College World Series pedigrees (DeNae Chatman, ASU; Kinsey Koeltzow, Oklahoma; Macee Barnes, Oklahoma State), the team has made its first-ever NCAA tournament regional appearance.

The Lopes will go up against UCLA, a tough test in the first round, but they boast a potential game changer in Gianna Nicoletti, who is one of the nation’s top base stealers.

More NWSL stars are jumping ship, as both the San Diego Wave and North Carolina Courage saw respective key players Delphine Cascarino and Denise O'Sullivan sign with WSL clubs over the last few days.

Former Wave forward Cascarino inked a deal through the 2029/30 season with the London City Lionesses on Monday, one day after San Diego announced they had mutually parted ways with the French international despite her contract running through 2026 with an option for the 2027 NWSL season.

"I'm really happy to be here," said the 28-year-old in a statement. "London City is the only independent women's club in the WSL, which excites me."

North Carolina midfielder and captain O'Sullivan made a similar move on Saturday, as the Ireland international signed with Liverpool following more than eight seasons and a club-record 186 appearances for the Courage.

The last-place WSL team reportedly shelled out a club-record transfer fee of approximately £300,000 to roster the 31-year-old two-time NWSL champion and three-time Shield-winner, who called Liverpool "a new challenge" that will see her "only a 40-minute flight away" from her family in Cork, Ireland.

Though the NWSL departures of Cascarino and O'Sullivan mark a kind of homecoming for the European standouts, they are just the latest to exit the US league, after USWNT star Sam Coffey joined WSL-leaders Manchester City last week.

"England — for men and women — is the country of football," noted Cascarino. "It's always been a goal of mine to play in this league."

New York Sirens forward Taylor Girard made PWHL history this week, earning a record four-game suspension for leaving the bench to join a line skirmish at the end of Sunday's 2-1 win over the Montréal Victoire.

The brawl occurred at the the final buzzer of the PWHL's record-breaking Takeover Tour stop in Washington, DC, with eight players — four Sirens and four from the Victoire — subsequently issued 10-minute misconducts in addition to Girard's infraction.

As the sole player not originally on the ice to join the skirmish, Girard was the only player to receive an additional 20-minute charge.

Even more, Girard's actions immediately triggered a four-game suspension, as the PWHL Rulebook dictates that exact punishment for "the first player to leave the players' bench illegally during an altercation or for the purpose of starting an altercation from either or both Teams."

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The four-game ban marks the longest punishment in PWHL history, doubling the two-game suspension that Seattle Torrent defender Aneta Tejralová received for an illegal check to the head last month.

With the PWHL on break after January 28th as 30% of the league's rosters compete in the 2026 Winter Olympics, the four-game suspension means that Girard — who sits second on New York's scoring sheet with five goals on the season — will not be available for the No. 2 Sirens until March 5th.

The WTGL is stocking up on golf stars, as TMRW Sports' newly announced offseason league begins to build its debut roster in partnership with the LPGA.

World No. 1 golfer Jeeno Thitikul (Thailand) signed on to participate in WTGL's inaugural season this week, alongside No. 5 Charley Hull (England), No. 6 Lydia Ko (New Zealand), No. 25 Brooke Henderson (Canada), and No. 79 Lexi Thompson (USA).

"WTGL will be a global stage to showcase LPGA stars, and this first wave of committed players represents that opportunity with some of the world's best," said TMRW Sports founder and CEO Mike McCarley in Monday's press release.

Set to launch next winter, the WTGL looks to build off the popular, second-year men's Tomorrow's Golf League (TGL), with the competition integrating both a physical and virtual golf environment inside Palm Beach Gardens at Florida's SoFi Center.

"These players will thrive in WTGL's competitive environment as fans will witness their skill and connect more deeply with their personalities through the unprecedented access the league delivers," said McCarley, noting that TGL golfers remain mic'd up throughout the team event.

The WTGL is also earning stamps of approval from several women's sports greats, as the Alex Morgan co-founded Trybe Ventures — an investment group that includes Morgan's fellow former USWNT stars Mia Hamm and Abby Wambach — became the new league's lead capital partner last week.

The WSL is cashing in on the women's game, with two UK clubs surpassing €25 million in annual revenue for the first time, according to the Deloitte Football Money League report on the 2024/25 season that dropped this week.

Reigning UWCL champions Arsenal topped the list for the first time after taking in €25.6 million last season, followed closely by WSL title-holders Chelsea FC's €25.4 million.

Meanwhile, Perennial European contender FC Barcelona (€22 million) dropped to third after leading the group in 2023/24, outpacing WSL titans No. 4 Manchester City (€12.9 million) and No. 5 Manchester United (€12.8 million).

Due to a lack of revenue data, the yearly study did not include major women's leagues in the US, Sweden, or Australia, giving the rankings a European bent as the total sum crossed the €150 million mark for the first time — a 35% increase over the previous season's Top-15 Money League clubs.

Commercial income was the biggest revenue driver for many top clubs, with sponsorship deals and brand partnerships leading the charge.

Arsenal also benefitted from increased revenue on the men's side, allowing the women's team to up its investment while avoiding running at a loss.

How to watch the top Deloitte Football Money League clubs in action

Deloitte Football Money League leader Arsenal will take on No. 5 Man United while revenue runners-up Chelsea will face the WSL-leading Man City in the 2025/26 Women's League Cup semifinals on Wednesday.

The concurrent clashes will kick off at 2 PM ET, streaming live on YouTube.