The Women’s College World Series is here, with eight teams all in the hunt for the national championship.

While there are plenty of great players on every team, Just Women’s Sports highlights one player to watch from each.

Oklahoma: Jordy Bahl

While Jocelyn Alo certainly has been the biggest name out of Oklahoma softball this year, freshman Jordy Bahl also has been a name to know.

The pitcher was named NFCA Freshman of the Year this week after a dominant rookie campaign. She hasn’t pitched since Oklahoma’s regular season finale due to an injury, but according to head coach Patti Gasso, Bahl will make her return to the circle this week.

“You’re going to see her pitch this week,” Gasso said during a press conference Wednesday. “How much? We’re still working.”

Bahl could be an issue for any opponent whenever she returns to the circle. The second-best pitcher on OU’s staff behind Hope Trautwein, she posted a 0.95 ERA during the regular season.

UCLA: Maya Brady

UCLA sophomore Maya Brady struggled a bit this season, hitting just .274 during Pac-12 play and hitting just five for 35 in the 12 games before her current streak.

But she’s turned the wheels on during the postseason, hitting .438. She arrives in Oklahoma City with a hit in 10 of her last 11 games. That includes a 3-for-3, two-RBI performance in UCLA’s win over Duke last week to clinch the super regional.

Oklahoma State: Kelly Maxwell

An All-American first teamer, Kelly Maxwell pitched a 1.16 ERA on the season en route to a 19-4 record. The Big 12 conference strikeout leader, she’s pitched 279 strikes heading into the WCWS.

Included in that number is her 13-strikeout, two-hit performance against Clemson in the team’s Super Regional en route to a 2-0 series win over the Tigers.

“When you have somebody like Kelly, you feel good going into any game that she’s gonna throw,” said Oklahoma State coach Kenny Gajewski.

Northwestern: Danielle Williams

Northwestern pitcher Danielle Williams has been a stalwart of the Wildcats’ defense this season, pitching her way to NFCA first team All-American honors alongside teammate Rachel Lewis.

Heading into the Women’s College World Series, she’s the only pitcher to have pitched in all of her team’s postseason games. Through six starts, she’s thrown 681 pitches.

Over three games against Arizona State in the Super Regionals, she threw 430 pitches in 23 ⅓ innings. That includes a 179-pitch, 11 inning performance in the series opener to lift the Cats 4-3 over the Sun Devils.

Danielle Williams.

That's it, that's the tweet. pic.twitter.com/vJF7L2mas1

— Northwestern Softball (@NUSBcats) May 28, 2022

And don’t count out catcher Jordyn Rudd, either. Rudd just won the inaugural Golden Glove award given to the season’s best catcher. She also has the best batting average on the team, making her a dual threat.

Florida: Skylar Wallace

With a .407 batting average, Skylar Wallace has helped propel No. 14 Florida to its 11th WCWS in 15 seasons. But while Wallace is a major piece of the Gators’ team, coach Tim Walton has pointed to the team’s ability to work together as a major reason why they’re back in Oklahoma City.

“The chemistry on the field,” Walton said. “The chemistry in our work ethic and just the constant ability to communicate with each other the right way.”

Wallace, as part of a duo with Kendra Falby, has combined to contribute 87 stolen bases out of the Gators’ 131. An Alabama transfer, she’s been unstoppable for Florida this season.

“Skylar had probably one of the best seasons in Division I softball history,” Walton said.

Texas: Janae Jefferson

The all-time hits leader at Texas and the Big 12 career hits and batting average leader, Janae Jefferson has been a stalwart this season for Texas, showing up in big moments — for example, when she scored the decisive run in the Longhorn’s 3-0 win over Arkansas to propel her team to its first WCWS since 2013.

Jefferson has a .431 batting average this season, the second-best amongst the teams in the WCWS. Only Oklahoma’s Alo has a better batting average this season.

On Wednesday, she joined Cat Osterman as the only other Longhorn to be a four-time All-American.

The 4x All-Americans in the history of Texas' softball program:

Cat Osterman.
Janae Jefferson.

That's it. That's the list. #HookEm https://t.co/u9JtpUMhkr

— Danny Davis (@aasdanny) June 1, 2022

Oregon State: Mariah Mazon

Mariah Mazon is one half of the “Bash Sisters,” alongside Frankie Hammoude. The duo hit 27 combined home runs on the year.

A threat in the circle and the batters’ box, Mazon was named a first team All-American by the NFCA. She has a team-record 861 strikeouts in her career, and she’s notched 220 of them this season. On top of her 2.18 ERA on the season, she’s also hitting .366.

Arizona: Allie Skaggs

Hard-nosed hitter Allie Skaggs enters the WCWS having tied for the most home runs in the Pac-12 to end the regular season. Currently at 24 on the season, she could break the tie with one swing during the World Series.

Her 24 home runs ties her for fourth in the country. She’s also batted in 58 runs, which ranks 19th in Division I, and has a .818 slugging percentage. Recently named a second team NFCA All-American, she’ll lead the unseeded Wildcats into Oklahoma City.

The NWSL has made a decision, as the league officially moves forward with its new "High Impact Player" rule despite stated opposition from the players union.

Announced last week, the rule change allows clubs to exceed to the NWSL salary cap by up to $1 million to attract or retain players that meet one of eight qualifying metrics set by the league.

Those metrics include major media award rankings like the 30-player Ballon d'Or shortlist and ESPN FC's Top 50 Football Players, as well as marketing power, top USWNT minutes, and end-of-year NWSL awards.

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Developed with Washington Spirit superstar — and current free agent — Trinity Rodman and her potential contract in mind, the "High Impact Player" rule will not go into effect until July 1st, 2026.

Meanwhile, the NWSLPA has spoken out against the mechanism, proposing instead to up the salary cap by $1 million without league-imposed spending regulations.

"Under federal labor law, changes to compensation under the salary cap are a mandatory subject of bargaining — not a matter of unilateral discretion," the union wrote on Wednesday.

Additionally, per The Athletic, NWSLPA executive director Meghann Burke expressed concerns that the rule ties top athlete pay, in part, to player valuations in third party publications — a move that externally defines who a club can consider "high impact."

Led by six Kansas City athletes and five from Gotham FC, just 27 current NWSL players across 10 of the 16 clubs in the expanded 2026 season meet the new HIP qualifying criteria — though all teams could use the mechanism to attract a new athlete to the league.

In a growing global market, the NWSL could be falling into a trap of half-measures, as the union pushes back with league parity potentially on the line.

The Kansas City Current have apparently found a new manager, with ESPN reporting last week that the 2025 NWSL Shield-winners will bring on former MLS head coach Chris Armas to lead the team in 2026.

Armas built his career in the MLS, coaching the New York Red Bulls from 2018 to 2020 before taking over Toronto FC in 2021, then spending the last three years heading up the Colorado Rapids.

The ex-USMNT player also has experience in the women's game at the college level, leading the Division II Adelphi University women's soccer team from 2011 to 2014.

Despite their many victories in 2025, the Current found themselves without a coach after third-year boss Vlatko Andonovski moved into a sporting director role with the club in November.

ESPN reported that Kansas City chose Armas over internal candidates like assistants Milan Ivanovic and ex-Angel City and Gotham manager Freya Coombe.

"I want my staff and people I've worked with to become successful coaches. These are things I'm very passionate about and want to be able to execute," Andonovski told ESPN last month.

Armas would be the first former MLS coach to make the leap to the NWSL, with the winds of change in Kansas City blowing stronger than anticipated.

With the 2026 Winter Olympics fast approaching, US skiing icon Mikaela Shiffrin has started the 2025/26 FIS World Cup cycle in top form — particularly in her favored slalom event.

Closing out last season with a victory, Shiffrin is currently on a multi-event winning streak, earning her sixth straight slalom title in Semmering, Austria, on Sunday.

"It was a really hard day today, tough conditions, a really big fight, and the pressure's on… I did my best, best possible run," Shiffrin said afterwards.

Momentum is on her side, with Shiffrin set to enter the 2026 Winter Games in Italy as the winningest skier in World Cup history, surpassing Swedish legend Ingemar Stenmark's 86 wins in March 2023 and becoming the first skier to reach 100 World Cup victories earlier this year.

Sunday's race marked the 30-year-old's 106th career World Cup title, with Shiffrin looking to add to her ever-growing historic record with three more slalom events scheduled before the Olympic women's Alpine skiing events kick off on February 8th.

The 2014 Olympic slalom champion and 2018 Winter Games giant slalom gold medalist is aiming to return to the podium after failing to medal at the 2022 Beijing Olympics.

Shiffrin will likely hit the slopes again next weekend, when the women's FIS World Cup lands in Kranjska Gora, Slovenia, for a giant slalom and slalom competition.

South Carolina basketball is stocking up, as top-ranked high school senior Jerzy Robinson announced her commitment to join the head coach Dawn Staley and the No. 3 Gamecocks last Tuesday.

"I chose South Carolina because I had a sense of peace when it came down to the decision for me," Robinson told ESPN. "When I visited South Carolina, I was already home. I was already valued there.... I felt like this was where I needed to be for the next four years."

A 6-foot-2 guard who averaged 27 points and 10.2 rebounds in her junior season at Los Angeles's Sierra Canyon High School, Robinson is now the highest-ranked Class of 2026 recruit heading to South Carolina — as well as the final Top 5 player to make a college decision after also visiting No. 1 UConn and No. 5 LSU.

Robinson first made a name for herself at the youth level, winning three gold medals and the 2025 U-19 FIBA World Cup with Team USA.

The young talent also inked one of the first-ever shoe sponsorships for a high school player, signing an NIL deal with Nike in November 2024.

"Basketball has always been my love and my passion," she said. "To see it pay off and the hard work and the hours pay off, in the sense of I get to play for one of the best universities in the country, I just have so much gratitude."