No. 21 Oklahoma State stunned No. 1 Oklahoma 6-4 in Wednesday night's Bedlam Classic. The Cowgirls scored in five consecutive innings to hand OU softball its first back-to-back losses of the NCAA softball season.
Ruby Meylan dominated for Oklahoma State, pitching a complete game, striking out nine batters, and improving her record to 18-6 on the year. The performance marked her 11th consecutive decision.
The Cowgirls jumped ahead early and never trailed, subsequently scoring at least one run in every inning after the first. The team combined for 10 hits with Rosie Davis, Lexi McDonald, and Tia Warsop recording two apiece while Karli Godwin added a solo home run in the third.
OU softball fought back with a pair of runs in both the third and sixth innings, as slugger Kendall Wells smashed a two-run homer in the third for her 32nd this season — claiming the fifth-most single-season home runs in NCAA DI history. Abby Dayton later doubled in two more runs in the sixth to cut the deficit to 5-4.
However, Oklahoma State answered with an insurance run in the bottom of the sixth before Meylan closed out the seventh with a perfect inning.
OU ace Miali Guachino took the loss for Oklahoma, falling to 12-1 after allowing four earned runs for her first loss of the season.
The upset marked Oklahoma State's eighth win over a No. 1 ranked team in program history. The Cowgirls last beat a top NCAA softball team in 2022, when they defeated OU in the Big 12 championship game.
Oklahoma softball was outhit 10-7 in the loss, as the Sooners move to 0-4 on the season when being outhit.
How to Watch Oklahoma Softball vs Arkansas This Week
Oklahoma won't have much time to dwell, as OU gears up to host No. 6 Arkansas for a three-game series starting Friday, live on ESPN2.
No. 3 Oklahoma softball came out swinging Tuesday as freshman Kendall Wells broke the SEC single-season home run record with her 27th homer in a 12-3 victory over Wichita State.
She passed the milestone in just the 37th game of her college career.
Wells launched a three-run blast in the sixth inning to pass previous conference record-holder, 2025 USA Player of the Year Bri Ellis. The Georgia native now leads the nation in home runs, pacing the Sooners with 60 RBIs while batting .383.
"I didn't even know that was the record," Wells said postgame. "My second and third at-bats, I didn't feel like I was making good adjustments. I talked a lot with coach JT [Gasso] in between, and kept it simple in my last at-bat."
Kendall Wells stands just three home runs away from former Sooners slugger Lauren Chamberlain's single-season mark of 30. She also trails NCAA record holder Jocelyn Alo by only seven homers, with Alo's 34 single-season blasts representing the all-time record.
Both Chamberlain and Alo established their records before Oklahoma joined the SEC in 2024. Additionally, Alo needed 23 games to reach 10 homers as a freshman, while Wells smashed 27 in just 115 at-bats.
Head coach Patty Gasso admitted she doesn't track individual records.
"Kendall Wells, what did she do? I knew something had happened, but I didn't know exactly what it was," she said. "Kendall came in more ready than any hitter I've ever seen, and that is what we are witnessing right now."
Wells is currently fueling Oklahoma's quest to reclaim its crown after reigning champion No. 1 Texas ended the Sooners' four-year title streak last season.
How to Watch Oklahoma Softball Star Kendall Wells in Action
Oklahoma opens a three-game series against Kentucky on Thursday at 6:30 PM ET, live on SEC Network.
Athletes Unlimited Softball League (AUSL) stocked up by adding 43 former NCAA and Olympic stars to its ranks on Monday night, with Talons utility player Maya Brady — niece of retired NFL legend Tom Brady — leading the charge as the No. 1 overall pick by the incoming Oklahoma City Spark in the league's expansion draft.
Starting the inaugural 2025 AUSL campaign on injured reserve, the former UCLA standout went on to feature in six games for the championship-winning Talons, registering one double, one home run, and five RBIs on the season.
The now-six -team league absorbed the previously independent Spark as part of an initial expansion plan, acquiring the Oklahoma City-based squad with the intention of finding permanent homes for all AUSL teams in the near future.
Also joining the AUSL next year is new franchise Cascade, which snagged Volts pitcher and former University of Oklahoma ace Sam Landry as the No. 2 overall pick on Monday.
Though the four original teams protected five players each, the Spark and Cascade raided their rosters in the expansion draft, claiming stars like infielders Sydney Romero (Talons) and Jessi Warren (Volts) as well as pitchers Alana Vawter (Blaze) and Payton Gottshall (Volts) for their debut lineups.
Immediately following the expansion draft, all six teams took part in an allocation draft, selecting athletes from either the 2025 AUSL Reserve Pool or those previously competing outside the league.
Former Oklahoma and Oklahoma State pitcher Kelly Maxwell earned the top pick in the allocation draft, with the new Cascade player joined by other recent NCAA softball legends like former Sooners Kinzie Hansen, Jayda Coleman, and Jocelyn Alo, Florida State's Kat Sandercock and Sydney Sherrill, Washington's Sis Bates, and Clemson's Valerie Cagle.
The Athletes Unlimited Softball League (AUSL) threw its very first pitch this weekend, as the four-team pro league ushers in a new era of US softball.
Saturday saw the inaugural season kick off in two sold-out stadiums, as the Bandits recorded the league's first-ever win by defeating the Talons 3-1 in Rosemont, Illinois, before the Volts capped opening day with a 5-1 extra-inning victory over the Blaze in Wichita, Kansas.
"To be able to run for those who walked for us is just incredible, and I'm really excited to be a part of it," said Volts outfielder McKenzie Clark following their historic opening win, acknowledging the sport's trailblazers who fought for and built AUSL from the ground up.
The Volts currently sit atop the AUSL standings with a 2-1 record, followed by a second-place tie between the Talons and Bandits at 1-1. The Blaze narrowly trail with a 1-2 tally.
The traveling seven-week inaugural season will see each team contest 24 games across 10 cities to determine the top two squads who will compete in a best-of-three championship series in late July.
With rosters full of former collegiate standouts, NCAA softball fans will have plenty of favorites to root for, as rookies like Talons infielder and 2025 Collegiate Player of the Year Bri Ellis (Arkansas), Volts catcher Michaela Edenfield (Florida State), Blaze pitcher Emma Lemley (Virginia Tech), and Volts pitcher Sam Landry (Oklahoma) make their professional debuts.
"I was like, 'I was born ready. Give me the ball,'" Landry — the No. 1 overall pick in the first-ever AUSL College Draft — told her coaches prior to starting in the circle in Monday's 3-1 Volts loss to the Blaze.
How to watch the AUSL this season
AUSL is back in action on Tuesday night, with the Talons and Bandits closing out their three-game opening series at 8 PM ET. Live coverage of the game will air on ESPN2.
Teams will then hit the road for their next locales, with the Volts kicking off a series against the Bandits in Sulphur, Louisiana, at 7 PM ET on Thursday, airing live on ESPN2.
Meanwhile, the Talons and Blaze will be en route to Chattanooga, Tennessee, with their series first matchup taking the field at 6:30 PM ET on Friday, with live coverage on MLB.com.
The Sooners' hunt for a fifth straight NCAA softball title is officially over, as No. 12-seed Texas Tech ousted No. 2-seed Oklahoma 3-2 in Monday's 2025 semifinals to book a trip to their first-ever Women's College World Series (WCWS) finals.
With a total of eight national championships under their belt, this year's WCWS marks Oklahoma's earliest exit since 2018.
Calling it "a great privilege" to play the modern dynasty that is Oklahoma softball, Red Raiders head coach Gerry Glasco said "This was our chance at forever — to leave a legacy at Texas Tech that will be remembered forever. Our team has done that. They've left a legacy."
Seventh-inning heroics end in dramatic Texas Tech victory
Prior to this season, the Red Raiders had never advanced out of the Regional round in their six previous appearances in the NCAA tournament.
With the addition of Stanford transfer and 2025 National Pitcher of the Year NiJaree Canady — college softball's first $1 million player — Texas Tech has put together a magical run all the way to this week's best-of-three championship series.
Canady's seven-inning showing on Monday nearly clinched the Red Raiders win, as the ace protected Texas Tech's second-inning 2-0 lead until the game's final frame.
Down to their last strike, junior outfielder Abigale Dayton played hero for the Sooners, blasting a two-run homer to tie the score and keep Oklahoma's hopes alive in the top of the seventh.
The bottom of the inning, however, was all Texas Tech, as Raiders first baseman Lauren Allred popped up a deep-enough sacrifice fly to score junior centerfielder Mihyia Davis from third, walking off the 3-2 win.
"Honestly, it was a very cinematic way to go out," Oklahoma first baseman Cydney Sanders — one of just three seniors on the young 2025 Sooners' squad — said of Monday night's late-inning WCWS dramatics.
2025 WCWS will crown a first-ever national champion
This week's championship series, which kicks off on Wednesday night, will now be an all-Texas affair, after the No. 6-seed Texas Longhorns also advanced with a 2-0 Monday win over No. 7-seed Tennessee.
Not only will the 2025 NCAA trophy be heading to the Lone Star State, this year's tournament will also crown a first-time victor: Despite their seven previous WCWS appearances and a now-third trip to the championship series in the last four years, the Longhorns — like the Red Raiders — have yet to hoist softball's national hardware.
SEC firepower will fuel the 2025 Women's College World Series (WCWS), as No. 2 Oklahoma, No. 3 Florida, No. 6 Texas, No. 7 Tennessee, and unseeded Ole Miss all advanced out of this weekend's Super Regionals to book trips to Oklahoma City.
The SEC's five teams ties the record for most WCWS-bound squads from a single conference, with the additions of former Big 12 powerhouses Oklahoma and Texas notably boosting the league's WCWS roster this year.
Big Ten newcomers No. 9 UCLA and No. 16 Oregon plus the Big 12's No. 12 Texas Tech round out the eight teams entering the double-elimination tournament later this week, all battling for one of two spots in next week's best-of-three championship series.
Despite coming into the postseason as the No. 2 seed, the Sooners are still the team to beat as they hunt their fifth straight NCAA softball title.
With their 18th program ticket to OKC, Oklahoma's consistency in advancing to the national championship's last stop is dwarfed only by UCLA: The Bruins have appeared in 34 editions of the WCWS, missing the final cut only nine times in NCAA history.
In contrast, both Ole Miss and Texas Tech will be making their WCWS debuts after upsetting top seeds last weekend.
The Rebels, who first eliminated No. 13 Arizona in Regionals, outlasted No. 4 Arkansas to book their first-ever WCWS trip on Sunday.
Meanwhile, the Red Raiders are flying high behind transfer pitcher and 2024 National Player of the Year NiJaree Canady, emerging victorious in their first-ever Super Regional with two straight wins over No. 5 Florida State.
How to watch the 2025 Women's College World Series
Oklahoma City veterans and debutants alike will begin their WCWS campaigns on Thursday, when all teams will contend in the tournament's initial four games.
Kicking off the 2025 WCWS is an all-SEC afternoon session, with No. 6 Texas facing No. 3 Florida at 12 PM ET before No. 7 Tennessee takes on No. 2 Oklahoma at 2:30 PM ET.
Evening play pits the newcomers against each other as Ole Miss clashes with No. 12 Texas Tech at 7 PM ET, with a Big Ten battle between No. 16 Oregon and No. 9 UCLA closing out the night at 9:30 PM ET.
Live coverage of the afternoon games will air on ESPN, with ESPN2 broadcasting the two evening matchups.
After a first-round weekend of pitcher's duels and red-hot bats, the 2025 NCAA softball tournament's best-of-three Super Regionals field is set — and it's missing four of the 16 national seeds.
No. 10 LSU fell on Saturday after two upset losses to unseeded SE Louisiana, before Sunday saw No. 13 Arizona and No. 14 Duke follow suit while unseeded Ole Miss, Georgia, and Nebraska all punched second-round tickets.
Eventually ousting SE Louisiana in the winners' bracket to advance to their first Super Regionals in 11 years, the Huskers rode in on the back of two-time All-American pitcher Jordy Bahl, with the Oklahoma transfer throwing 12 innings and hitting four home runs across Nebraska's three Regional games.
Elsewhere, unseeded Liberty booked a program-first trip to the Supers by eliminating top-seed Texas A&M — the first time the NCAA bracket's overall No. 1 seed failed to advance from Regionals.
Should they similarly bounce No. 16 Oregon this weekend, Liberty will become just the second mid-major team to make the Women's College World Series (WCWS) since 2014, joining James Madison's 2021 Cinderella run.
Rounding out the rest of the Super Regional round's 16 teams are No. 2 Oklahoma, No. 3 Florida, No. 4 Arkansas, No. 5 Florida State, No. 6 Texas, No. 7 Tennessee, and No. 8 South Carolina, as well as No. 9 UCLA, No. 11 Clemson, No. 12 Texas Tech, No. 15 Alabama, and the aforementioned No. 16 Ducks.
Super Regional weekend to feature blockbuster matchups
The 16 contenders will battle head-to-head for eight available WCWS berths, with the four-time defending champion Sooners now leading the field.
To advance, however, Oklahoma must first outlast Alabama, a team with which the Sooners have a long, contentious postseason history — the pair have faced off in five of the last 12 NCAA tournaments.
After Oklahoma bounced Alabama from the 2019 WCWS semifinals — the last time the pair squared off before becoming SEC rivals — the Tide enacted revenge by narrowly beating the Sooners in April's conference play, teeing up a tense weekend Super Regional series.
After narrowly missing this weekend's hosting rights as the No. 9 seed — UCLA's lowest seeding since 2016 — the Bruins proved why they are the sport's winningest program, run-ruling ever Regional game while allowing just two runs all weekend.
The 12-time champions will now travel to Gamecock territory, where No. 8 South Carolina will try to boost the Bruins and book their first WCWS ticket in 28 years.
Powerhouses still rule the diamond, but parity has never been higher in college softball, with this year's NCAA tournament already delivering whiplash results.
How to watch the 2025 NCAA softball Super Regionals
The best-of three NCAA softball Super Regionals kick off on Thursday and run through the weekend, with possible winner-take-all clashes finalizing the WCWS slate on Sunday.
First games are as follows:
- No. 12 Texas Tech at No. 5 Florida State, 7 PM ET on Thursday (ESPN2)
- No. 11 Clemson at No. 6 Texas, 9 PM ET on Thursday (ESPN2)
- Georgia at No. 3 Florida, 11 AM ET on Friday (ESPN2)
- No. 9 UCLA at No. 8 South Carolina, 1 PM ET on Friday (ESPN2)
- No. 15 Alabama at No. 2 Oklahoma, 5 PM ET on Friday (ESPN2)
- Nebraska at No. 7 Tennessee, 7 PM ET on Friday (ESPN2)
- Ole Miss at No. 4 Arkansas, 8 PM ET on Friday (ESPNU)
- Liberty at No. 16 Oregon, 10 PM ET on Friday (ESPNU)
For the first time in program history, Texas A&M is the No. 1 seed in the NCAA softball tournament, with the Aggies staving off four-time reigning champion Oklahoma for the honor in Sunday's 2025 bracket drop.
After adverse weather canceled their conference title game on Saturday, the Aggies and No. 2-seed Sooners became 2025 SEC tournament co-champions, leaving the NCAA selection committee to lean heavily on each team's strength of schedule in making their top-seed decision.
"What set apart Texas A&M is they have 19 Top 25 wins, which is number one in the country," said NCAA softball committee chair Kurt McGuffin on Sunday's ESPN2 broadcast, noting the Aggies' tough nonconference schedule.
Taking on a lighter nonconference slate than usual due to massive roster turnover following the 2023/24 season, Oklahoma relied heavily on their record in a stacked SEC, finishing one half-game ahead of A&M in regular-season play.
While the Sooners look to extend their championship streak, the Aggies will be hunting their third national title and first since 1987.
Standing in their way in the 64-team bracket are a record number of familiar foes, as the SEC boasts 14 teams in the 2025 NCAA competition — the most from any single conference in tournament history.
Even more, nine of the bracket's 16 seeded teams hail from the SEC, and a full seven of the Top 8.
Conference champs, at-large teams score NCAA bracket spots
SEC squads aren't the only teams looking to topple Texas A&M and Oklahoma, however, as conference champions and other elite squads learned their tournament fates on Selection Sunday.
No. 5 Florida State is the highest seeded non-SEC team, despite falling 2-1 to No. 11-seed Clemson in Saturday's ACC title game. Along with No. 14-seed Duke, the ACC will see nine teams in the 2025 tournament.
Behind 2024 National Player of the Year NiJaree Canady — the nation's top pitcher — Texas Tech leads a five-team contingent from the Big 12 after securing both their conference tournament trophy and the national No. 12-seed this weekend.
In the weekend's most upset-filled conference tournament, unseeded Michigan outlasted both No. 9-seed UCLA and No. 16-seed Oregon to score a second straight Big Ten tournament title on Saturday, becoming one of eight teams repping the conference in Sunday's bracket.
Notably, the Bruins — the winningest program in NCAA softball history with 12 titles — have not entered the tournament lower than a No. 6 seed since 2016.
How to watch the 2025 NCAA softball tournament
The road to the 2025 Women's College World Series begins with Regionals, in which each of the 16 seeded teams will host a four-team double-elimination mini-tournament this weekend.
With a minimum of 96 games — and a possibility of 112 — Regional play begins at 12 PM ET on Friday, with the 64-team field narrowing to 16 by Sunday night.
All games will air live across ESPN's networks.
College softball closed out regular-season play over the weekend, transitioning into a slate of cutthroat conference tournaments ahead of this year's 64-team NCAA Division I tournament.
Starting on Tuesday and running through Saturday, the 31 single-elimination softball conference tournaments will determine the champions who will automatically book their postseason tickets with their trophies.
The NCAA committee will award the remaining 33 bracket spots during this weekend's upcoming Selection Sunday show.
SEC dominance sets up blockbuster conference tournament
Thanks in part to recent conference realignment, the powerhouse SEC appears to have the college softball landscape on lock this year, with this week's tournament likely providing a sneak peek of the national tournament.
With the addition of newcomers No. 2 Oklahoma and No. 5 Texas — and led by current national No. 1 Texas A&M — seven of the Top 10 Division I teams hail from the SEC, including all of the Top 6.
Despite some growing pains — and seven conference losses — the defending champion Sooners will look to again lead the pack as they hunt a fifth straight Women’s College World Series title.
Joining the Sooners, Longhorns, and Aggies in pursuit of the SEC crown — and perhaps the national trophy, as well — are No. 3 Tennessee, No. 4 Florida, and No. 6 Arkansas.
How to watch the SEC softball conference tournament
With the conference's top teams earning byes through to later rounds, the SEC tournament begins when unranked Georgia takes on unranked Kentucky at 1 PM ET on Tuesday.
Later, No. 21 Ole Miss will battle unranked Missouri at 4 PM ET, before No. 16 Alabama wraps up the SEC's first round against unranked Auburn at 7 PM ET.
All three Tuesday games will air live on the SEC Network.
Stanford shattered the NCAA softball attendance record this weekend, welcoming 13,207 fans inside the university’s football stadium for Saturday's "Big Swing" game against Cal.
In the most-attended non-football contest in Stanford Athletics' history, the Cardinal softball crowd surpassed the sport's previous attendance record of 12,566, set on the first day of the 2024 Women's College World Series (WCWS) in Oklahoma City.
The history-making game also blew past the NCAA softball regular-season record of 9,259 fans, a feat reached less than two weeks ago when reigning champions Oklahoma defeated local rivals Oklahoma State on April 9th.
"It was kind of like a mini College World Series experience," Stanford junior outfielder Kyra Chan said after the game.
Despite dropping the record-breaking matchup 10-8 to their new ACC rivals, No. 16 Stanford ultimately secured the three-game series against the Golden Bears with wins on Thursday and Friday.
Friday's 9-3 victory was particularly impactful, clinching the Cardinal a spot in their first-ever ACC championship tournament next month — the first postseason stop as Stanford hunts a third-straight appearance in the WCWS semifinals.
Stanford softball fuels argument for larger women's sports venues
Softball isn't the only sport leading the recent surge in record-breaking NCAA women's sports crowds.
After shifting a volleyball match into its football stadium in August 2023, Nebraska welcomed not just the sport's biggest crowd, but the largest to ever attend any women's sporting event in the US.
Shortly thereafter, Iowa's "Crossover at Kinnick" blasted through the NCAA women's basketball attendance mark by moving an exhibition game featuring the Caitlin Clark-led Hawkeyes into the university's football venue.
Though the move to massive football stadiums was intentional to snag both Nebraska's and Iowa's respective records, Stanford's venue shift was not initially an attendance-hunting move.
The Cardinal's entire 2025 softball season is being played on the gridiron as the team's new $50 million stadium and state-of-the-art training facility is under construction.
Taking advantage of that added capacity was a no-brainer, with Stanford specifically branding and marketing their rivalry "Big Swing" game to capitalize on their temporary digs — and to continue making the overall case for expanding women's sports' venues.
"I think that you see a consistent theme that there aren't big enough venues for women's sports to be able to draw the fans that they can draw," Stanford softball head coach Jessica Allister pointed out.
"Hopefully, a lot of people who showed up to Stanford for the first time to watch a softball game will come back and see us in our beautiful stadium."