OKLAHOMA CITY (KXAN) — The Pac-12 and Big 12 conferences are taking over the Women’s College World Series this year.
Six of the eight teams that made it through super regionals represent the conferences, including top-seeded Oklahoma and fifth-seeded UCLA. Northwestern and Florida are the only teams at the USA Softball Hall of Fame Complex not from either conference.
Play begins Thursday with unseeded Texas taking on the No. 5 Bruins at 11 a.m. CDT. The Longhorns are one of three unseeded teams to make it to the WCWS — Arizona and Oregon State from the Pac-12 being the others.
The No. 1 Sooners are the defending national champions after their triumph over No. 10 Florida State last season, and they are the favorite to win it again after steamrolling through their season with a 54-2 record. The only teams to beat Oklahoma are Big 12 teams, and both are at the WCWS. Texas handed Oklahoma its first loss of the season 4-2 in Austin on April 16, snapping the Sooners’ 36-game winning streak to start the 2022 season. Oklahoma State topped the Sooners in the Big 12 Conference tournament title game 4-3 on May 14.
The Sooners simply crush the ball, leading the country in home runs with an eye-popping 138, averaging nearly 2.5 long balls per game. The closest team to the Sooners is the Wichita State Shockers with 121 homers. Oklahoma also leads the country in batting average, hitting .369 as a team.
Oklahoma isn’t all offense, however. The squad also leads the country in earned run average in microscopic fashion at 0.80.
Bracket, schedule, what channel to watch
You can check out the bracket for the entire tournament, regional tournaments and all, on the NCAA softball site. Here’s how the brackets at the WCWS look:
Bracket 1
- No. 5 UCLA
- Texas
- No. 1 Oklahoma
- Northwestern
Bracket 2
- No. 14 Florida
- Oregon State
- No. 7 Oklahoma State
- Arizona
Schedule (The links will lead to the box scores once the games conclude)
Thursday, June 2
Game 1: 11 p.m. | Texas at No. 5 UCLA | ESPN
Game 2: 1:30 p.m. | No. 9 Northwestern at No. 1 Oklahoma | ESPN
Game 3: 6 p.m. | Oregon State at No. 14 Florida | ESPN
Game 4: 8:30 p.m. | Arizona at No. 7 Oklahoma State | ESPN
Friday, June 3
Game 5: 6 p.m. | Loser of game 1 vs. Loser of game 2 | ESPN2
Game 6: 8:30 p.m. | Loser of game 3 vs. Loser of game 4 | ESPN2
Saturday, June 4
Game 7: 2 p.m. | Winner of game 1 vs. Winner of game 2 | ABC
Game 8: 6 p.m. | Winner of game 3 vs. Winner of game 4 | ESPN
Sunday, June 5
Game 9: 2 p.m. | Winner of game 5 vs. Loser of game 8 | ABC
Game 10: 6 p.m. | Winner of game 6 vs. Loser of game 7 | ESPN2
Monday, June 6
Game 11: 12 p.m. | Winner of game 7 vs. Winner of game 9 | ESPN
Game 12 (if necessary): 1:30 p.m.
Game 13: 7 p.m. | Winner of game 8 vs. Winner of game 10 | ESPN
Game 14 (if necessary): 8:30 p.m.
WCWS championship series
Game 1: 8:30 p.m. on Wednesday, June 8
Game 2: 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, June 9
Game 3: 8:30 p.m. (if necessary), on Friday, June 10
Credit: Source link
