We continue our list of the Top 15 Softball Stories of 2021, which will run through December 31st when we’ll present our No. 1 story of the year.
Here are the previous stories (clink on link to read):
- #15… FAU’s Riley Ennis Feels Her Team’s Support After Hurricane Devastation
- #14… Four Football Helmets, One Anonymous Bidder, and a Difference Made for ULM Softball
- #13… High School & Club Coaching Great Mark Campbell Remembered in Collegiate Classic Bearing His Name
Also, on New Year’s Day 2023, we’ll list all 15 of the top stories of the year as well as run 15 more that were considered.
We’ve surveyed the softball community and talked internally as well to come up with what were the most impactful and relevant stories of the year pertaining to the world of fastpitch softball.
Where applicable, we are providing the text to the original articles and/or references when the story first happened.
- Click Here to see the Top 15 Stories of 2021
- Click Here to see the Top 15 Stories of 2020
- Click Here to see the Top 15 Stories of 2019
- Click Here to see the Top 15 Stories of 2018
To provide comments, insights or thoughts, email: info@extrainningsoftball.com.
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Today’s Story of the Year: #12:
TV Ratings Continue to Climb–& Viewership Records Set– on Softball Telecasts
News you already knew (or will know now): fastpitch softball is a great sport for TV.
Compared to baseball, softball pitchers are closer to the hitters, the base lines shorter, the games quicker and the innings fewer.
When I worked for ESPN many moons ago, people were surprised to learn—even then in the 1800’s (OK, it wasn’t that long ago)—that softball had the third highest viewership of any college sport after football and men’s basketball thanks in large part to the NCAA Women’s World Series.
In 2022, the numbers for softball continued to climb and it wasn’t just at the WCWS, which did set records—it was during the season too and even down to the Little League Softball level!
Here are a few examples of softball’s ever-growing popularity on TV (listed in chronological order)… now, fingers crossed, we will get the same enthusiasm and eyeball increases for the pro game…
— Brentt Eads, Extra Inning Softball
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TV Ratings: Clearwater Finale Between UCLA and Florida State Draws Record Numbers
Originally published Feb. 23, 2022 on Extra Inning Softball
Florida State’s 4-3, extra-inning win over UCLA on Sunday night brought in 620,000 television viewers on ESPN, according to ShowBuzzDaily.com.
Based on immediately-available historical television broadcast numbers, the game appears to be the first regular season college softball contest to cross the 600,000-viewer plateau since at least 2015.
The matchup – which featured a walk-off double by Florida State’s Kalei Harding – was the most-watched game from the St. Pete/Clearwater Elite Invitational since the tournament’s inception. The 2020 tournament finale, also between UCLA and Florida State, held the previous viewership record and drew 380,000 viewers when it aired on ESPN2.
According to viewership numbers provided by ShowBuzzDaily, the 2022 edition of Seminoles/Bruins was Sunday’s 20th-highest-rated cable program in the 18-49 demographic.
The primetime game was also the most-watched program on the ESPN family of networks on Sunday, beating the likes of men’s college basketball games between Memphis/SMU (534k viewers) and Houston/Wichita State (441k).
It also drew more viewers than Saturday’s Xavier/UConn men’s basketball game, which aired to 529,000 viewers on FOX.
Other notable showings on the airwaves from Clearwater included Saturday’s UCLA/Texas matchup, which drew 160,000 viewers in its airing on ESPNU; Sunday afternoon’s UCLA/Wisconsin broadcast which drew 109,000 viewers on ESPNU; and Sunday morning’s Clemson/Washington matchup that brought in 97,000 viewers on ESPNU.
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TV Numbers: LSU/Arkansas Draws a Crowd, Beats Pro Sports in Total Viewership
Originally published Mar. 30, 2022 on Extra Inning Softball
Saturday night’s matchup between LSU and Arkansas, which aired on ESPN2, drew an audience of 355,000 viewers, according to ShowBuzzDaily.com.
That number made the game the most-watched softball telecast of the weekend, narrowly edging out Sunday afternoon’s telecast of game two of the Tigers/Razorbacks series, which also aired on ESPN2 and drew 335,000 viewers.
Both games of the series outdrew many of the women’s basketball NCAA tournament games, including the Sweet 16 game between Texas and Ohio State that aired Friday night on ESPN2 and drew 273,000 viewers.
Additionally, the pair of LSU and Arkansas matchups also drew a larger audience than Sunday afternoon’s NHL game between 2-time defending Stanley Cup champions Tampa Bay Lightning and the New York Islanders, which aired on TNT and drew a viewership of 297,000.
Other events that fell behind the pair of softball games in terms of total viewership included Sunday’s MLS soccer game between Portland and Orlando (245k) and an NCAA hockey tournament face-off between Minnesota and Western Michigan (226k).
The numbers for LSU/Arkansas are up significantly from last season’s softball telecast, on the same weekend, of LSU and Florida, which drew 245,000 viewers on ESPN in 2021.
ESPN announced that a pair of Week 8 matchups have been elevated to being aired in primetime on ESPN this weekend – Kentucky at LSU will air at 6 pm Eastern on Saturday evening, followed by Oklahoma State and Baylor at 8 pm Eastern.
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TV Numbers: Thursday Night Bedlam Draws a Large Audience
Originally published May 6, 2022 on Extra Inning Softball
Thursday night’s game between Oklahoma State and Oklahoma on ESPN drew 589,000 viewers, according to ShowBuzzDaily.com.
That viewership number makes Bedlam the second-most-watched game of the 2022 softball season, as well as the second-most-watched regular season softball game since it least 2015.
In both categories, Thursday night’s game ranks behind only the UCLA-Florida State game from Clearwater in February, which drew 620,000 viewers at the time and was the first regular-season softball game to draw more than 600,000 viewers.
Oklahoma’s win over their arch-rivals was the 16th-most-watched cable program in the all-important 18-49 demo on Thursday night. It was also the most popular live event and 2nd-most-popular program of any kind on the ESPN family of networks on Thursday.
By ratings comparison, the Bedlam game also beat a pair of NHL games that aired on TBS, including the Capitals/Panthers game head-to-head (470,000 viewers) and Stars/Flames (378,000).
Thursday night also marked the fourth and final installment of ESPN’s Thursday Night Throwdown series of spotlighted games, and the Bedlam game nearly outdrew the previous three games combined in terms of total viewers:
April 14 – Oregon vs. Arizona – 194,000
April 21 – Clemson vs. Florida St – 245,000
April 28 – Oklahoma St vs. Florida St – 194,000
May 5 – Oklahoma St vs. Oklahoma – 589,000
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TV Numbers: Women’s College World Series Ratings Set New Highs
Originally published June 12, 2022 on Extra Inning Softball
So, despite Texas jumping out to early leads in both of the 2022 Women’s College World Series final games only to see Oklahoma explode for double digit runs in its 16-1 and 10-5 victories, the TV ratings on ESPN for the two blow-out victories must have have abysmal, huh?
Especially going up against NHL playoffs, the NBA finals, and other programming?
Not exactly.
Oklahoma’s 10-5 win over Texas in Game 2 of the WCWS drew 1.744 million viewers, according to ShowBuzzDaily.com. Overall, the championship series between the Sooners and Longhorns averaged 1.6 million viewers, tying it for the most-watched 2-game WCWS Championship Series ever. Wednesday’s Game 1 brought in 1.411 million viewers, a strong number considering the lopsided, historic blowout 16-1 win by Oklahoma.
In combined viewership, this year’s championship final came in slightly higher than 2019 (Oklahoma-UCLA) and slightly behind only 2009 (Florida-Washington).
Last year, the 2021 WCWS championship series, which went three games between Oklahoma and Florida State, turned in a 1.84 million average viewership per game.
In total, the 2022 Women’s College World Series averaged 1 million viewers per game, down from 2021’s historic numbers (which averaged 1.2 million/per) but marks the third-consecutive WCWS that has hit the 1 million-mark in average viewership.
As part of the WCWS festivities, two games aired on ABC for the first time in the championship tournament’s history. Oklahoma’s win over Texas on Saturday – an unexpected preview of what would ultimately be the championship finals matchup – was watched by 1.25 million viewers, the most-watched winner’s bracket game in history. Sunday’s matchup between UCLA and Florida, an elimination game, brought in 1.064 million viewers.
Sunday night’s Texas/Arizona matchup on ESPN also turned in more than 1 million eyeballs, checking in a 1.03 million mark. Monday’s semifinal doubleheader between Texas and Oklahoma State also drew top-level numbers, with 1.304 million viewers for the first game between the teams and 1.256 million tuning in to the winner-take-all finale.
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TV Numbers: ESPN Notches Record Viewership for Little League Softball World Series
Originally published Aug. 20, 2022 on Extra Inning Softball
The 2022 Little League Softball World Series was ESPN’s most-watched since it expanded coverage of the tournament in 2017, according to a release from ESPNPR.
The tournament averaged 294,000 viewers across ESPN and ESPN2, up 19 percent from 2021 and up 21 percent from 2019. The increases occurred despite a last-minute time change for Monday’s championship game that shifted the game out of an originally-scheduled primetime slot to a noon first pitch; the game would later re-air in primetime.
Texas’ championship win over Maryland drew 280,000 viewers in the 12 pm time slot, then brought in an additional 256,000 viewers in the re-air on Monday night on ESPN2 for a combined audience of 536,000 viewers.
TV Audience Numbers for previous Little League Softball championship games:
- 2021 – Championship Game on ESPN – 409,000 viewers
- 2019 – Championship Game on ESPN – 473,000 viewers
- 2018 – Championship Game on ESPN – 535,000 viewers
- 2017 – Championship Game on ESPN2 – 360,000 viewers
- 2016 – Championship Game on ESPN2 – 193,000 viewers
The Little League Softball World Series semifinal game on Sunday, August 14, between Hewitt, Texas and Chesterfield, Virginia, was the tournament’s most-watched telecast since the 2018 championship game. It averaged 537,000 viewers.
