The 2025 NCAA softball tournament has had something for everyone.
Do you like upsets? Well, for the first time, the tournament's overall No. 1 seed (Texas A&M) was knocked out before the super regionals. Three unseeded teams took top-7 seeds to a third game in the super regionals, too. Do you like star power and chalk instead? Well, despite the upsets above, four-time defending national champion Oklahoma has scorched its way through the postseason, and annual contenders like Florida and Texas have advanced as well.
Do you like drama? Texas and UCLA have had you covered. Both teams lost Game 1 of their super regionals and were in serious trouble late in Game 2 before saving themselves in absurd fashion and then winning Game 3.
Do you like pitching? Texas Tech's NiJaree Canady and Tennessee's Karlyn Pickens are comfortably the two best pitchers in the country and have more than looked the part in the postseason. Do you like home runs? Oklahoma, Ole Miss, Texas and Oregon can't stop hitting them.
Now, after a couple of breathless weekends, it's time for the Women's College World Series. One side of the Oklahoma City bracket will give us some epic heavyweight matchups -- Oklahoma versus Tennessee and Florida versus Texas -- while the other half of the bracket has fallen apart, providing intriguing opportunities for either World Series newcomers (Texas Tech, Ole Miss), an explosive Oregon team or the oldest of old-time heavyweights (UCLA). How will a wild postseason conclude? Let's steel ourselves by looking at the strengths and (relative) weaknesses of each team remaining in the field.
Jump to:
Oklahoma | Florida | Texas
Tennessee | UCLA | Texas Tech
Oregon | Ole Miss
No. 2 Oklahoma Sooners
Record: 50-7
Head coach: Patty Gasso (1565-359-2 career)
Best WCWS result: Eight-time national champions (18th appearance)
First WCWS opponent: No. 7 Tennessee (Thursday, 2:30 p.m. ET, ESPN)
For a minute there, you could talk yourself into OU being vulnerable. After a brilliant 28-0 start in 2025, the Sooners suffered series losses to Tennessee at home and Alabama on the road, and after a lovely sweep of Texas (from which Texas pitchers don't seem to have recovered), they lost two of three at Florida, too. The Sooners lost seven games in the regular season, their most since 2017, and while a lot of that had to do with an upgrade in competition -- this was their first season in an absolutely nuclear SEC -- it still felt as if OU lacked the star power of previous champions. There was no Lauren Chamberlain, no Keilani Ricketts, no Jocelyn Alo. They didn't even get the No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament -- that went to A&M (which proceeded to drop the ball in historic fashion).
But it's a lot harder to convince yourself of vulnerability now that the postseason has begun.
Biggest strength: It looks like OU again. While other title contenders have wobbled or fallen, the Sooners have outscored five tournament opponents by a combined 47-5. In a rematch with Bama in the super regionals, they won 3-0 and 13-2. Ace Sam Landry might not be Ricketts or Paige Parker, but in her past five appearances, she's 5-0 with a 0.88 ERA. The batting order might not have an Alo or Chamberlain, but the Sooners are batting .414 with a 1.309 OPS (on-base percentage plus slugging percentage) and 13 home runs in the postseason.
Kasidi Pickering and Gabbie Garcia have four of those tournament homers each, and six players have hit at least one. Pickering, Garcia and Ella Parker all now have an OPS over 1.200 for the season. (The national OPS average: .826.) The Sooners have the best offense in this tournament, plus an ace allowing under one run per game. They are peaking at the right time. (Again.)
Potentially fatal flaw: Dingers. OU can play the power game as well as anyone, but for the season as a whole, the pitching has been vulnerable to the long ball as well. OU has allowed 49 home runs, and only one other WCWS team (Ole Miss) has allowed more than 40. Landry kicked into fifth gear in recent weeks, but this is the first WCWS for the Louisiana transfer, and if old habits kick back in, it's possible that some big-swinging opponents could find success turning games into track meets against the champs.
No. 3 Florida Gators
Record: 48-15
Head coach: Tim Walton (1109-302 career, 983-236 at Florida)
Best WCWS result: Two-time national champions (13th appearance)
First WCWS opponent: No. 6 Texas (Thursday, 12 p.m., ESPN)
Florida is automatic under 17th-year coach Walton. The Gators have missed only two super regionals since his first season in 2006, and they're now headed to OKC for the 12th time since 2008. They nearly took down the champs last year, falling to OU in extra innings in the deciding semifinal game, and this season they took two of three from the Sooners in the last series before the postseason. Like OU, they might be peaking just at the right time: In six postseason games, the Gators have scored at least five runs five times and have allowed more than two only once. They're comfortably the No. 2 title favorite, and they know they're capable of beating the favorite, too.
Biggest strength: Florida can score in 100 different ways. Among the eight World Series teams, the Gators are second in on-base percentage (.447), third in slugging (.596) and second in homers (107). They're also first in walks (295), first in fewest strikeouts (196) and third in stolen bases (96). Only OU and maybe UCLA play the power game better than Florida, but only Oregon and maybe Texas Tech play small ball better. The Gators don't chase pitches, and when they swing, they make good contact. That's doubly true when there are runners in scoring position.
The lineup is just relentless -- nine Gators have had at least 103 at-bats, six of them have produced an OPS of at least 1.027, six have hit double-digit home runs, seven of them have walked at least 25 times, and all of them have batted in at least 26 runs. Outfielder Taylor Shumaker is the only power-conference hitter to combine at least 20 home runs with at least 18 stolen bases. That's an unfair combination.
Potentially fatal flaw: They often have to score a lot. The pitching has indeed been solid in the tournament. Keagan Rothrock, the SEC's 2024 Freshman of the Year, has handled most of the postseason work and has been decent (2.63 ERA), while three backups have combined for 11 innings and no runs. But the standard for pitching is awfully high in the World Series, and Florida's staff isn't among the strongest.
Rothrock missed more than a month with injury this season, and since her return in late-March, she's 8-5 with a shaky 4.43 ERA. She allows all-or-nothing contact -- even with solid numbers, she has still allowed five home runs in the tournament -- and that's a pretty scary thought with the number of "all" hitters she'll see in the coming days.
No. 6 Texas Longhorns
Record: 51-11
Head coach: Mike White (746-203-3 career, 311-92-2 at Texas)
Best WCWS result: Runner-up in 2022 and 2024 (eighth appearance)
First WCWS opponent: No. 3 Florida (Thursday, 11 a.m., ESPN)
Talk about waiting until the last possible moment to get going: After going just 7-7 in their last 14 games before the tournament, the Longhorns rolled through regionals but dropped Game 1 of the supers to Clemson, then gave the Tigers' runners at second and third with no outs in the bottom of the eighth in Game 2. But a strikeout, lineout and groundout later, they had wriggled out of a potentially season-ending jam. They scored two in the 10th inning to force a Game 3.
Binford expresses excitement and pride in the Rebels' performance after defeating the Razorbacks and discusses their mindset heading into the WCWS.
After surviving another late jam in Game 3, the Horns are headed to OKC. And they have more than enough talent to make a third run in four years to the championship series.
Biggest strength: Veteran bats and proof of concept. Of the nine Texas players with at least 100 at-bats this season, eight have played in at least one WCWS (and championship series), and two, seniors Mia Scott and Katie Cimusz, have played in two. When you combine major experience with major quality -- five of these players have an OPS of at least 1.013, three have hit at least 14 home runs, and six have scored at least 47 runs -- you get something pretty unflappable and fearsome. While their overall team OPS ranks fifth among WCWS teams, it rises to a tie for second, behind only Oklahoma, when the Horns are behind. As Clemson just learned, it's really, really hard to knock Texas out.
Potentially fatal flaw: Where did the pitching go? With more than a combined 1,000 career innings and loads of high-pressure experience, the pitching trio of Teagan Kavan, Citlaly Gutierrez and Mac Morgan should be as seasoned and dangerous as the batting order. It was at one point this season, but the Horns have gotten knocked around of late. As of mid-April, Texas pitchers were 39-5 with a collective 2.01 ERA, but since then they've gone just 12-6 with a 4.63 ERA. Texas A&M knocked them around 14-2 in the SEC tournament, and Clemson scored 17 runs in three super regional games. Kavan, the ace who started last year's WCWS with 14 consecutive scoreless innings, has allowed at least three runs in nine of her past 13 appearances. This team can swing the bats, but as with Florida, their pitching is far more questionable than expected at the moment.
No. 7 Tennessee Lady Volunteers
Record: 45-14
Head coach: Karen Weekly (1130-354-2 at Tennessee, 1343-451-2 overall)
Best WCWS result: Runner-up in 2007 and 2013 (ninth appearance)
First WCWS opponent: No. 2 Oklahoma (Thursday, 2:30 p.m. ET, ESPN)
Give a legendary coach enough time to figure things out, and she'll probably do so. After seven WCWS appearances in 11 years between 2005-15, Weekly's Volunteers had fallen into a relative drought, falling short of OKC in six straight postseasons. But they made it back in 2023 and reached the semifinals. Now, having survived a rugged schedule and a three-game test from star Jordy Bahl and Nebraska, Tennessee is hoping to go even further with a ridiculously battle-tested group and a pitcher who can keep them in any game.
Biggest strength: Karlyn Pickens. During a softball broadcast, you'll often hear announcers talking about how batters adjust to pitchers throughout a given game, and there's typically something to that. But you'll forgive Nebraska hitters if they think that's all a bunch of hooey. They didn't adjust to Pickens in the super regionals last weekend -- she adjusted to them.
After giving up five runs and four hits in 3⅔ innings in a 5-2 loss on Friday, she responded by completely erasing a prolific Huskers attack. In the last two games of the series, she pitched all 14 innings, gave up just two runs and seven hits, struck out 21 and walked two as the Vols took 3-2 and 1-0 wins. Oh yeah, and she broke her own fastest pitch record (79.4 mph) in the process.
Karlyn just hit 79.4 on the gun 🔥🔥🔥
— Tennessee Softball (@Vol_Softball) May 24, 2025
the new fastest pitch in NCAA Softball history, breaking her own record of 78.2 pic.twitter.com/WuVWJrccdr
Pickens has been the best pitcher not named NiJaree Canady this season. The 6-foot-1 junior is 24-9, her 1.00 ERA is second in the nation (behind Canady), and she ranks both fifth in on-base percentage allowed (.246) and first in slugging percentage allowed (.219) despite having played against top-notch opponents: She's faced Nebraska four times, Texas three times, Ole Miss three times, Arkansas three times, Oklahoma twice, Texas A&M twice, Georgia twice, UCLA and Oregon once each, etc. At this point, she's a junior with the experience of a third-year pro.
Potentially fatal flaw: Pickens might need to win a few more 1-0 games. Like any lineup in the WCWS, Tennessee has plenty of hitting talent. Taylor Pannell boasts a 1.219 OPS and 15 home runs, catcher Sophia Nugent has 17 homers, outfielder Saviya Morgan gets on base well and steals a lot. The Vols rough up questionable pitching as well as anyone. But against aces, things get dicey. They've been held to zero or one runs on nine occasions this year, and while Pickens has won a couple of 1-0 decisions (and lost a couple more), she might have to do that a few different times in the coming days.
No. 9 UCLA Bruins
Record: 53-11
Head coach: Kelly Inouye-Perez (871-220-1 career)
Best WCWS result: 13-time national champions (33rd appearance)
First WCWS opponent: No. 16 Oregon (Thursday, 9:30 p.m., ESPN2)
Searching for a first WCWS bid in 28 years, South Carolina took the fight to UCLA in the supers. The Gamecocks cruised to a 9-2 win in Game 1, then eased to a 4-1 lead in Game 2. UCLA's dynamite offense had evidently not made the trip to Columbia, and the season was going to end in meek fashion for history's greatest softball program. (OU still needs five more NCAA titles to catch the Bruins.)
Apparently, UCLA was just waiting to make a late entrance, Hollywood-style. A walk, a triple and a single made the score 4-3 in the bottom of the seventh, but the Bruins were still down to their final out when South Carolina starter Sam Gress reentered the game to pitch to Jordan Woolery. As Gress psyched herself up, the camera panned to Woolery, who looked like she was falling into a trance.
First pitch: walk-off.
After a 5-0 win over the shell-shocked Gamecocks on Sunday, UCLA is somehow off to its 33rd WCWS; the Bruins have missed only nine of them going back to 1982. And they've got the firepower to stay in OKC for a few games.
Biggest strength: Hard hits and front-running. The Bruins don't hit home runs at quite the same rate as Oklahoma -- outside of Megan Grant (25) and Woolery (23), no one has more than nine -- but no one in the WCWS has made more extra-base hits (215), and no one has more total bases (993). Eight Bruins have had at least 110 at-bats in 2025, and they've all made at least 10 extra-base hits. Woolery has 43 of them.
They have old-school, line-drive-in-the-gap power, and even if they're late arriving to the party, the runs eventually come. And when the Bruins take the lead, the game is as good as over. With a trio of solid arms, coach Inouye-Perez is able to find the right pitcher for the occasion, and UCLA leads the nation with a .978 win percentage when scoring first.
Potentially fatal flaw: UCLA doesn't play fast. The Bruins' power and pitching depth are undeniable, but they don't get as much as others out of the speed game. They have by far the fewest stolen bases of any WCWS team -- Jessica Clements and Kaitlyn Terry lead the team with just nine each -- and they've allowed the second most, too. The Bruins also turned the fewest infield double plays (11). As many ways as possible to win a game deep in the postseason is needed, and the Bruins' Plan B isn't great.
No. 12 Texas Tech Red Raiders
Record: 50-12
Head coach: Gerry Glasco (349-99 career, 50-12 at Tech)
Best WCWS result: First appearance
First WCWS opponent: Ole Miss (Thursday, 6 p.m., ESPN2)
You had to feel for whoever drew Texas Tech in the super regionals. It was clear for a while that the Red Raiders would end up seeded in the No. 10-16 range, meaning someone was going to win 40-something games, earn a really good national seed, then get cursed with having to beat pitcher NiJaree Canady twice in the supers. No. 5 Florida State drew the short straw; the Seminoles couldn't even beat her once.
Coach Glasco came to Lubbock after taking Louisiana to six regionals (and one super regional), and with help from one of the most famous NIL deal's in women's sports, he almost instantaneously turned Tech a softball power. The Red Raiders had never even been to a super regional before 2025 -- now they're on their way to their first WCWS.
Biggest strength: Canady. Obviously. She came to Lubbock after going a combined 41-10 with a 0.67 ERA in two seasons at Stanford, leading the Cardinal to the WCWS both years. She has lived up to all hype (and NIL value) this season: She ranks first nationally in ERA (0.89), second in on-base percentage allowed (.219), second in slugging percentage allowed (.220) and third in strikeout rate (36.2%). You can put the ball in the air against her -- her nine home runs allowed are more than most WCWS aces -- but you can't build sustained rallies. Softball ace is probably the second most important position in any team sport behind football quarterback, and Tech has the best in the business.
Potentially fatal flaw: The bats are merely solid. Canady is just 3-4 at the WCWS, and in her four losses, Stanford scored a total of two runs. It's hard not to see a similar dynamic in 2025.
Tech comes to OKC ranked seventh among WCWS teams in on-base percentage (.401), seventh in slugging percentage (.507) and last in home runs (59). Canady, in fact, is the only player with double-digit homers (11). The Red Raiders can run -- of these eight teams, only Oregon has stolen more bases. And you could say that they benefit from a steady talent distribution: The lineup only has three players with an OPS over 1.000 (including Canady), but it also has only one batter below .850. This isn't a bad offense. But it's still the second worst in the WCWS.
No. 16 Oregon Ducks
Record: 53-8
Head coach: Melyssa Lombardi (238-114 career)
Best WCWS result: Third place in 2014 and 2017 (seventh appearance)
First WCWS opponent: No. 9 UCLA (Thursday, 9:30 p.m., ESPN2)
Texas A&M's loss was Oregon's gain. After Liberty upset the top-seeded Aggies, Oregon accelerated past the Flames in the super regionals, winning Game 1 in extra innings but scoring 10 late runs to win Game 2 by a 13-1 margin. Former Oklahoma assistant coach (and catcher) Lombardi took a little while to get rolling after replacing Mike White in Eugene, but the Ducks are back in the WCWS after a seven-year drought.
Lombardi has crafted a beautifully balanced squad in 2025: The Ducks are explosive in both the pitching and batting departments, and they went 19-4 in their first go-round in the Big Ten. They found their backs against the wall after a blowout loss to former Pac-12 rival Stanford in the regionals, but they've since won four straight games by a combined score of 41-15.
Biggest strength: Depth and options. The Ducks have just the right player for any occasion. At pitcher, Lyndsey Grein (29-2, 2.08 ERA) and Elise Sokolsky (16-2, 2.00 ERA) have produced similar high-level numbers. But Grein is a strikeouts-and-flyballs ace -- her 50 appearances are the most in the country, and her 31.8% strikeout rate ranks eighth -- while Sokolsky allows contact but keeps the ball on the ground.
At the plate, Oregon wears you down with sheer depth. Of the nine Ducks with at least 100 at-bats, seven have an on-base percentage of at least .415, six slug at least .597, four have at least 10 home runs and four have at least 16 stolen bases. (Only three WCWS teams have stolen more than 72 bases, but the Ducks have stolen 166. There are no free outs, and if you're one of the few teams capable of hitting Grein, they have a change-of-pace ready.
Potentially fatal flaw: Patience. Of the eight teams in OKC, only Tennessee batters have struck out more than Oregon batters. The Ducks take a lot of pitches but can fall behind in the count against elite pitchers. And there are quite a few elite pitchers at the WCWS. Meanwhile, only Florida and Ole Miss pitchers walk more batters. And when things get away from the Ducks, they really get away: They haven't lost many games, but the list includes a 14-1 loss to Stanford, 8-0 to UCLA and 5-0 to Michigan. Two of those three came within the Ducks' last eight games.
Ole Miss Rebels
Record: 42-19
Head coach: Jamie Trachsel (523-289-1 career, 181-115 at Ole Miss)
Best WCWS result: First appearance
First WCWS opponent: No. 12 Texas Tech (Thursday, 6 p.m., ESPN2)
Texas and UCLA certainly brought the drama, but no team had to grind as hard as Ole Miss did to get to Oklahoma City. Unseeded after an 11-13 regular season in the SEC, the Rebels took two of three at Arizona in the regionals, then took two of three at No. 4-seed Arkansas in the supers. In seven total games, they outscored opponents only 41-40 -- their five wins were by an average of 8.0-5.2, and they lost games 10-1 and 4-0. It took clutch play after clutch play for the Rebels to earn their first WCWS appearance. But here they are. And they get a marquee game against Canady right out of the gate.
Biggest strength: Alyiah Binford might be the hottest hitter in the country. Since they're the only unseeded team to reach OKC, one would expect the Rebels' overall numbers to be poorer than others in the field. And they are. But if we look solely at what teams have produced thus far in the NCAA tournament, the Ole Miss bats have been hotter than anyone's besides Oklahoma. The Rebels have hit 15 home runs in the postseason, two more than even the Sooners (albeit in two more games), and they have the second-most extra-base hits and third-most total bases.
At the heart of this success is Binford. The Baylor transfer has probably been the Rebels' best postseason pitcher, too, but in 24 tourney at-bats, the free-swinging senior has hit four home runs (among six extra-base hits) with nine RBIs and eight runs scored. Her postseason OPS is 1.440.
Potentially fatal flaw: This is the worst team in the field. Or maybe you could more diplomatically say that they have the worst statistical resume. The offense has indeed come alive of late, but, well, the Rebels have allowed 5.2 runs per game in their tournament wins. And for the season, they have both the worst overall OPS and worst OPS allowed among WCWS teams.
The Rebels' seasonlong offensive numbers are worse than those of both of the pitching-first teams in the field (Tennessee and Texas Tech), but their pitching numbers are also comfortably the worst: Their 3.25 team ERA is a half-run worse than anyone else's in OKC, and they allow far more base-runners than anyone else. Coach Trachsel's team is resourceful and gritty, but they'll have to gut out quite a few 7-5 wins to advance deep into the WCWS. It could happen.