Texas softball kept its Women's College World Series repeat dreams alive on Monday, while a wild ladybug superstition held by its 2026 WCWS breakout star Hannah Wells made a viral splash.
During ESPN's live Texas vs Tennessee coverage, veteran sideline reporter Holly Rowe stunned viewers with the Longhorns standout's unique pregame habit.
ESPN’s Holly Rowe Breaks Down Texas Star's Lucky Ladybug Ritual
According to the ESPN broadcast, the freshman traces her ice-cold postseason composure back to an unusual softball ritual.
"She has a superstition dating back to childhood that if she sees a ladybug, she eats it for good luck. Swallows it whole," Rowe revealed.
The curious habit — confirmed by two separate dugout sources — appeared to work wonders at last month's SEC Softball Tournament, when Wells blasted a home run directly after swallowing one of the insects.
Whether or not Wells found a ladybug before Monday's doubleheader remains a mystery. However, her bat delivered when it mattered most.
During a tense fifth inning, Wells stepped up to the plate with the bases loaded and crushed a clutch, two-RBI single off the right-center wall. The hit gave Texas a commanding 4-1 cushion.
Decorated reliever Teagan Kavan closed out the seventh with a strikeout, securing a 5-2 win over the Tennessee Lady Vols and forcing an automatic winner-take-all semifinal rematch.
Texas Softball Sweeps Tennessee to Book 2026 WCWS Final
The Longhorns capitalized on that Game 1 momentum, subsequently sweeping the Texas vs Tennessee doubleheader by blanking the Lady Vols 4-0 in the closer.
Defending champion Texas now advances to its third consecutive WCWS Finals, marking the program's fourth Championship Series in the last five years.
The Longhorns next play in-state rivals Texas Tech for all the marbles starting Wednesday at 8 PM ET, live on ESPN.
The Lady Vols opened the 2026 Women's College World Series with a statement win, beating the reigning champion Longhorns 6-3 in Thursday's Tennessee vs Texas softball WCWS showdown at Devon Park.
The result sends Tennessee into the WCWS winner's bracket while forcing the Longhorns to the brink of early elimination.
Morrison, Mardjetko Push Tennessee Past WCWS Champion Texas
Freshman Elsa Morrison powered the Lady Vols early in the contest.
In the second inning, Morrison launched a massive three-run home run off Texas pitcher Teagan Kavan to break a scoreless tie. Morrison subsequently continued her hot streak, hitting a deep double off the wall to up the WCWS score.
Sophomore pitcher Sage Mardjetko earned the victory in the circle, allowing just one hit through four frames.
And the decision to start the NFCA All-American over Tennessee ace Karlyn Pickens seemed to rattle the Longhorns from the jump.
"It just goes to the confidence and preparation that I've had all season," Mardjetko said of her first-ever WCWS start. "Softball is softball. It just goes back to trusting yourself, the preparation you put in day in and day out."
Texas mounted a late-inning response when senior second baseman Leighann Goode drilled a two-run homer in the bottom of the sixth. However, Pickens came in as the Lady Vols' closer to shut down the rally and secure the win.
Texas Softball Faces Softball World Series Bracket Elimination
Tennessee now advances to face a 2025 runner-up Texas Tech on Saturday afternoon.
Texas, meanwhile, faces immediate pressure. The Longhorns now drop into the elimination bracket as they shoot to revive their title defense with a win over tournament underdog Mississippi State.
Fans can watch every 2026 WCWS matchup on ESPN.
Tennessee opened the 2026 NCAA softball super regionals with a statement victory on Thursday night, as the No. 7 seed Lady Vols defeated the No. 10 seed Georgia Bulldogs 3-1.
With the win, Tennessee moves within one victory of securing a spot in the Women's College World Series.
Tennessee Softball Takes Lead Off Early Home Runs
Tennessee's offense surged immediately in the bottom of the first inning, as Sophia Knight launched a solo home run to left-center field.
Moments later, Emma Clarke followed with another blast to center field. The pair's consecutive home runs gave the Lady Vols a rapid 2-0 advantage.
Then Georgia responded in the top of the second inning, as Emily Digby hit her own homer to put the Bulldogs on the board.
Lady Vols Pitcher Karlyn Pickens Turns Things Around
However, Tennessee ace Karlyn Pickens quickly regained control, delivering a dominant performance on the mound. She struck out 10 batters and consistently frustrated the Bulldogs' lineup.
Tennessee added an insurance run in the bottom of the fifth inning when Alannah Leach crushed the third home run of the night.
The Bulldogs mounted a final threat in the top of the seventh inning, managing to load the bases against Pickens with two outs. But, despite the pressure, Pickens forced the final out to seal the victory.
How to Watch Tennessee vs Georgia NCAA Softball Super Regional
Tennessee and Georgia return to the field for Game 2 of the NCAA softball super regionals series on Friday at 3 PM ET, live on ESPN2.
The SEC softball tournament opened with a major upset Wednesday night, as the Ole Miss Rebels knocked off the Tennessee Lady Vols 4-1 in Kentucky.
The 13-seed Rebels now advance to the SEC quarterfinals after eliminating fifth-seeded Tennessee in the Lady Vols' first 2026 tournament matchup.
“When you lose a softball game like we did today, pretty much everything that adds up to a loss was there,” Tennessee head coach Karen Weekly said after the loss.
“We missed opportunities when we had runners in scoring position. We didn’t make plays when we needed to keep them from scoring. And then we allowed too many free passes.”
Tennessee grabbed an early lead in the second inning, after Ella Morrison scored off an RBI singe from Bella Faw. The run briefly put the Lady Vols ahead 1-0.
“I was just looking to attack the zone,” Faw said. “Coach said that postseason is an opportunity to start over, start fresh and just play free.”
However, that would be Tennessee's only run of the night.
Ole Miss responded in the fourth inning after capitalizing on a Tennessee error. That error led to two unearned runs and a 2-1 lead. The Rebels added insurance in the fifth when Maddi George delivered a two-run single to stretch the advantage to three.
The Lady Vols created chances throughout the game but struggled to convert, stranding eight runners on base.
Tennessee ace Sage Mardjetko took the loss after allowing two unearned runs over 3.2 innings, while hurler Karlyn Pickens took over for the final 3.1 innings.
Kyra Aycock earned the win for Ole Miss, allowing one run across four innings before Emilee Boyer secured the save.
How to Watch the 2026 SEC Softball Tournament
Ole Miss next faces defending champion Texas on Thursday at 5 PM ET, live on SEC Network.
The 2026 NCAA softball season is officially in full swing, as the Shriners Children's Clearwater Invitational brings 16 top programs — including 10 ranked teams — to Florida for four days of championship-level matchups this week.
A full seven of the nation's Top 10 teams will feature in this edition of the annual competition, with No. 6 Florida State, No. 8 Nebraska, No. 8 Texas A&M, and No. 10 LSU joining three of last season's Women's College World Series contenders — No. 7 UCLA, No. 3 Tennessee, and 2025 runners-up, No. 1 Texas Tech — in Clearwater.
With so many elite rosters, the invitational's 40-game slate includes 17 ranked matchups — and eight Top 10 showdowns.
Three of those eight games will feature Tennessee, who drew arguably the toughest Clearwater weekend with clashes against the No. 6 Seminoles, No. 7 Bruins, and No. 8 Cornhuskers — a team that stunned defending champion No. 2 Texas with an 8-5 opening-weekend upset loss on Saturday.
Friday's clash between the Huskers and Vols — a rematch of the pair's 2025 Super Regional — will also serve as an early-season litmus test of two of college softball's best pitchers, with a duel in the circle expected between Tennessee standout Karlyn Pickens and Nebraska ace Jordy Frahm (née Bahl).
But first, the top-ranked Red Raiders — led by two-time All-American pitcher and the sport's only multimillion-dollar NIL athlete NiJaree Canady — will headline Thursday's docket in their own Super Regional rematch against the No. 6 Seminoles.
How to watch NCAA softball at the 2026 Clearwater Invitational
The stacked Clearwater Invitational began on Thursday morning, with the day's spotlight clash between No. 1 Texas Tech and No. 6 Florida State taking the field at 1 PM ET, airing live on ESPN2.
All 40 games will air live across ESPN platforms.
Athletes Unlimited Softball League (AUSL) made a historic move this week, signing Tennessee senior pitcher Karlyn Pickens to the first-ever NIL deal with a pro league seen in the NCAA sport.
As part of her contract, Pickens will use social media and participate in other marketing opportunities to promote the newly expanded AUSL as the premier place for NCAA athletes to launch their professional softball careers.
"When I was growing up, I didn't really see [pro] softball… I didn't really think there was an option to go pro," said the Lady Vols star in Wednesday's AUSL announcement. "It's been just a few years, and now everyone's dream is to go to AUSL and continue their softball career."
After kicking off her NCAA tenure as the 2023 SEC Freshman of the Year, the two-time All-American and reigning Softball American Pitcher of the Year posted a 1.17 ERA across her 44 appearances last season, leading the Lady Vols from the circle all the way to the Women's College World Series semifinals in Oklahoma City.
Pickens also shattered records along the way, becoming the first collegiate ace to top Tennessee legend Monica Abbott's fastest NCAA pitch mark of 77mph from 2012 with a 78.2mph throw last March — before breaking her own record by hurling a blistering 79.4mph pitch at the Super Regionals last May.
Making NIL history this week is likely the 22-year-old's first step with the AUSL, which recently locked its six teams into home cities across the US last month — including assigning the Blaze to Pickens's home state of North Carolina.
"I never would've imagined that the pro softball league is what it is now, but it's also come to my home state," said Pickens.
How to watch new AUSL NIL athlete Karlyn Pickens
Pickens will kick off her senior season with No. 4-ranked Tennessee at this week's 2026 NFCA Leadoff Classic, where the Vols' slate includes clashes against No. 23 Liberty and No. 5 Oregon, among others.
Tennessee will begin the invitational against unranked BYU at 7 PM ET on Thursday, with live coverage of the tilt streaming on GameChanger.
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.
NCAA conference realignment drastically altered this year's college sports landscape, affecting volleyball, basketball, and, now, softball, as former titans lose ground while others rise to the occasion.
After years dominating the Big 12, four-time reigning NCAA softball champions Oklahoma are now riding the ups and downs of the stacked SEC.
The Sooners recorded a loss to unranked Missouri and fell twice to then-No. 10 Tennessee last month, before dropping two of three games to then-No. 22 Alabama this week.
With the now-No. 17 Crimson Tide's victories, Oklahoma fell two spots to No. 4 in Tuesday's ESPN/USA Softball rankings update.
Similarly, after adding a pair of weekend losses to then-No. 5 Tennessee alongside earlier stumbles against ranked SEC foes Florida and Mississippi State, former Big 12 standout No. 1 Texas took a tumble, with the 2024 runners-up Longhorns sliding to No. 3 this week.
While those wins earned the Vols a boost to No. 2, a dark horse SEC squad took over the sport's No. 1 spot on Tuesday, when a 12-game winning streak lifted the Texas A&M Aggies atop both the SEC table and the national rankings for the first time in program history.
SEC solidifies itself as top NCAA softball conference
The fall of NCAA softball's recent giants from the sport's elite spots isn't due to a decline in Oklahoma's or Texas's play, but simply a result of the intense level of competition and talent in the SEC.
The conference now lays claim to all of NCAA softball’s top four teams — plus seven of the Top 10.
With the college softball postseason looming next month — not to mention the eight-team Women's College World Series beginning on May 29th — the SEC is proving itself the conference to beat in the 2025 title hunt.
How to watch SEC softball this weekend
While No. 1 Texas A&M will take the weekend off after closing out a three-game series against Missouri early Friday afternoon, both No. 3 Texas and No. 4 Oklahoma will be battling in SEC series.
The Longhorns hope to sweep No. 9 LSU after claiming a 7-3 series-opening win on Thursday. Friday's first pitch between the pair is at 5:30 PM ET on SECN+, with Saturday's final game beginning at 12 PM ET on ESPN2.
The Sooners will kick off their own three-game slate against No. 15 Mississippi State at 5 PM ET on Friday, streaming live on SoonerSports. The pair will close out the series with a Sunday doubleheader beginning at 3 PM ET, with both games airing on SECN+.