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The field is set for the 2022 Women’s College World Series.
Northwestern locked in the final spot in Oklahoma City with their victory over Arizona State late Sunday night. The 9th-seeded Cats pulled off a slight upset in the desert in what was arguably the best Super Regional in the nation.
Already locked into the WCWS field were top-ranked Oklahoma, #5 UCLA, #7 Oklahoma State, #14 Florida, and unseeded teams Texas, Arizona, and Oregon State.
The WCWS kicks off on Thursday with an 11 am matchup between Texas and UCLA. Other opening-round matchups in the double-elimination bracket include Oklahoma vs. Northwestern; Florida vs. Oregon State; and Oklahoma State vs. Arizona.
Each team’s journey to Oklahoma City was a unique one…
Oklahoma
The prohibitive favorites from the season’s opening day, Oklahoma’s stacked offensive lineup and the addition of true freshman pitcher Jordy Bahl guided the Sooners to a 37-game winning streak to start the year. The Sooners’ first loss of the year came against Texas in the third and final game of the teams’ Big 12 series; now 54-2 on the year, Oklahoma’s only other loss came against Oklahoma State in the Big 12 tournament championship game.
Early-season wins against UCLA and Tennessee, as well as a nearly-flawless conference schedule that included a regular-season 5-1 record against Texas and Oklahoma State, gave the Sooners something to write home about from a scheduling perspective.
Worthy of note, thanks to that hearty offense, the Sooners own 37 run-rule victories on the year, including a pair of a lopsided wins in their home regional and a Super Regional-opening run-rule against UCF.
UCLA
The Bruins were 7-3 to start the year, certainly more losses than the program is used to taking in the early part of the year, but those defeats came at the hands of Oklahoma, Northwestern, and Florida State. Two of those teams are now in Oklahoma City and the other was the #2 overall seed in the NCAA tournament.
After the FSU loss, UCLA reeled off 25 consecutive wins that included a 10-0 start to conference play. The Bruins had non-conference wins over Tennessee and Missouri, but their series sweeps over Arizona, Washington, and Oregon were an impressive start to PAC-12 play.
The Bruins only lost two PAC-12 series’ this season – to Stanford and Arizona State, both on the road, though the latter series cost them the conference title.
The postseason has yet to see the Bruins truly tested – two run-rules highlighted the Regional round, including in the regional final against Ole Miss, while a walk-off and an offensive outpouring gave UCLA the two-game Super Regional sweep against Duke.
Oklahoma State
One of just two teams to beat Oklahoma this year, the Cowgirls earned their first Big 12 title under head coach Kenny Gajewski with the win.
Through the first two weeks of the season, though, Oklahoma State was in search of a real identity. The Cowgirls lost to Duke, LSU, South Florida, and Washington in the season’s first two weeks, although wins over Arizona State and Northwestern in the same time period would go on to age very nicely.
In the latter portion of non-conference play, the Cowgirls swept two games from Texas A&M; split with Stanford; swept two games from Minnesota; and lost a midweek affair against UT-Arlington. Through the first five weeks of conference play, the Cowgirls lost just one game – the series opener to Iowa State – but fairly dominated their conference opposition.
The final two weeks of the season, though, saw the Cowgirls end the year on a 5-game losing streak, scoring just six runs in the five games combined. Two of those games came on a trip to Tallahassee to take on Florida State, while a series sweep at the hands of Oklahoma decided the regular-season Big 12 title.
Since the postseason began, the Cowgirls have yet to lose. A 3-0 showing at the Big 12 tournament included that win over Oklahoma for the championship trophy, while another three wins in the regional round were followed by a Super Regional sweep over Clemson. With the berth in OKC, the Cowgirls are officially in the Women’s College World Series for the third consecutive year.
Northwestern
It was the year 2007 when the Northwestern Wildcats were last a part of the Women’s College World Series festivities. This season, a veteran roster has the Cats returning to OKC.
Within the season’s first three weeks, Northwestern owned wins over UCLA, Clemson, Oregon, and Washington. Wins over Missouri and Stanford came a few weeks later. Even some so-so losses – to Texas Tech and Cal State Fullerton – didn’t dim the Cats’ bright-shining light in the early part of the year.
Once they reached Big 10 play, a 5-1 start that included a series win over Michigan looked promising. The Cats would go on to 19-4 overall in league play, winning the B1G’s regular-season title.
Sure, there were bumps along the way; a early-April midweek loss at Notre Dame was certainly one the Cats would like to do over. A run-rule loss on the backend of a doubleheader against Illinois was a less-than-stellar bump in the road; a regular-season-ending series loss to Minnesota didn’t look great, either.
After making an exit in the conference semifinals against Michigan – going 1-1 in the conference tournament overall – the Cats quickly dispatched McNeese in a winner’s bracket game and the regional final, scoring 27 runs in a pair of run-rule wins.
Against Arizona State in the Super Regional, the Cats won game one in 11 innings before falling in game two in 8 frames. In the winner-take-all game three on Sunday night, the Cats stormed back from a 5-0 deficit to record an 8-6 win and punch their World Series ticket.
Florida
Forty-one regular season wins and a 13-11 conference record is a “down year” for Tim Walton’s Gators.
The Gators never left the Sunshine State during non-conference play, with wins over Duke; Michigan; and UCF the only real highlights. Just as important, though, the Gators had just one early setback, an early-March defeat at home at the hands of Southern Miss.
Against Mississippi State at the start of conference play, the Gators recorded the series win, coming from behind in the opener and dropping the second game of the weekend before winning the series with a shutout.
Such was the way things would go for Florida in SEC play; the Gators recorded series wins over Texas A&M; Auburn; LSU; and Ole Miss – the latter their only series sweep of the year – but lost series’ to Tennessee, Alabama, and were swept at the hands of Arkansas.
In a regular-season-ending weekend tournament that included Florida Gulf Coast and Mercer, the Gators dropped a game to FGCU that was a much more dominant affair than the 3-2 final score indicated.
As with any Florida team under Tim Walton, though, the postseason is a different ball game.
A 2-1 showing as the #5 seed in the SEC tournament was followed by the Gators receiving the #14 seed in the NCAA tournament. The Gators swept past Canisius, Georgia Tech, and Wisconsin in the regional round, then won back-to-back elimination games in the Blacksburg Super Regional to clinch their spot in OKC.
Texas
Not the lowest seed to reach Oklahoma City this year, the Longhorns’ presence still might be the most surprising to anyone who was keeping up with the program in the season’s early weeks.
A season-opening win over Clemson was immediately nullified by a loss to Florida Gulf Coast – yes, the same FGCU that would beat Florida to close the year. In Clearwater for week 2 of the season, the Longhorns were a winless 0-5 in the Invitational, losing to Florida State, Auburn, UCLA, UCF, and Notre Dame in the span of three days. The Horns scored 2 or fewer runs in four of those five losses, with the only anomaly a crazy, messy, 15-10 loss to UCF.
In a trip to Alabama in week 4, the Horns played the Crimson Tide tightly but lost both games; two wins over Miami Ohio and a midweek victory over North Texas began to right the ship, though.
In mid-March, a four-day stretch included five games against two teams from the Bayou State. The Longhorns swept a doubleheader at Louisiana-Lafayette before welcoming LSU to town. The result of that series was a 3-game sweep for the home squad, giving Texas their first true marquee wins of the year.
Within conference play, the Longhorns recorded series sweeps over Kansas, Iowa State, and Texas Tech and won the regular-season-ending series against Baylor. The Horns were the first team to beat Oklahoma this year, though they lost the series to the juggernaut-Sooners and were also swept at the hands of Oklahoma State.
Texas was ousted in the Big 12 tournament semifinals – the infamous “Finger Game” for head coach Mike White – and were placed as the regional 2-seed in the Seattle regional. After winning a decisive Game 7 there, the Horns took on Arkansas in the Fayetteville Super Regional and won two straight games with their backs against the wall to clinch a trip to OKC.
It’s the first Women’s College World Series journey for the Longhorns since White took over as head coach.
Arizona
An NCAA tournament team annually since 1987, never before has a Cats team taken the path that they took to reach Oklahoma City this season. From an 0-8, then 2-10, start to PAC-12 play to now preparing for the WCWS, it’s been a remarkable run for Arizona.
A shutout, run-rule loss to Alabama in the season’s opening week and a tight win over New Mexico in the same tournament were early signs of trouble. The Cats stayed steady, losing to Kentucky in week 2 and both Cal State Fullerton and Oklahoma in week 3. Tight wins over Boise State and Texas State dotted week 4.
Entering conference play, the Cats were 19-4 overall.
To start conference play, the Cats were shutout in three straight games at UCLA; were run-ruled twice while being swept by Arizona State at home; and lost their first two games against Washington before finally putting up a W against a PAC-12 opponent in the series finale against UW.
The Cats went on to lose series’ to Oregon State, Cal, and Stanford, while posting series wins over Oregon and Utah to finish the year 8-16 in league play and in a tie for last place in the PAC-12 standings – a tie they would have lost via a head-to-head tiebreaker, were it necessary.
Thanks to their lack of bad losses and respectable overall showing, the Cats were handily into the NCAA tournament field and were not even among the “last four in” to the tournament. Placed in the Columbia Regional, the Cats never lost, sweeping past regional 2-seed Illinois and hosting Missouri twice to move on to the Super Regionals.
Two wins in Starkville, a pair of games that saw the Cats outscore their opponents 10-3 and increase their “runs allowed” total for the postseason to just six, and the Cats are now WCWS bound.
Caitlin Lowe is the first rookie head coach to take her team to the Women’s College World Series.
Oregon State
Quite literally a team selected as one of the “last four in” to the NCAA tournament, Oregon State has undertaken a remarkable run to get to this point.
The Beavers began their season with a loss to New Mexico and were 3-2 on the year after one weekend of play. A loss to South Dakota State, a win over Tennessee, and a two-game split against Portland State were the biggest puzzle pieces through the next several weeks of games leading up to the start of PAC-12 play.
After being swept at the hands of Arizona State to open conference play, the Beavers reeled off consecutive series wins against Stanford, Cal (a 3-game sweep), and Arizona. Dropping the final game to UA started a 10-game losing streak for OSU that saw them swept at the hands of Washington, UCLA, and Oregon in consecutive weeks.
The Beavers eked out a series win over Utah to close the regular season, winning the opening game of the series in ten innings before splitting the final two games of the year with the Utes.
Sneaking into the tournament, the Beavers went 4-1 in the Knoxville regional, winning twice over Ohio State and winning what amounted to a 3-game series against Tennessee. With their backs against the wall, the Beavers won two games in the regional final to upset the hosting Lady Vols.
In an all-PAC 12 Super Regional, the Beavers outscored rival Stanford 5-1 in two games, stringing together a pair of wins to return to OKC for the second time in program history.