OKLAHOMA CITY — While a trio of teams could be considered the headliner for this year’s Women’s College World Series, the final phase of the NCAA Division I tournament to determine a national champion in softball features an eight-team field with remarkable balance.
Alabama (54-7), seeded No. 1 overall for the 64-team field the tournament began with at mid-month, swept through double-elimination regional and best-of-three super regional competition in Tuscaloosa over the past two weekends.
Reigning NCAA champion Texas (47-11), the national No. 2 seed, topped Alabama to win the Southeastern Conference tournament title the weekend before regionals.
And the top-ranked team in the latest ESPN.com/USA Softball poll was Big Ten champion Nebraska (51-6), even though the Cornhuskers were seeded fourth in the NCAA bracket.
That trio and five other teams — fifth-seeded Arkansas (47-11), seventh-seeded Tennessee (47-10), eighth-seeded UCLA (52-8), 11th-seeded Texas Tech (57-7) and unseeded Mississippi State (43-19) — will start the process of sorting it all out Thursday at Devon Park. The Women’s College World Series begins with double-elimination play until two teams are left standing for the best-of-three finals starting June 3.
Texas Tech coach Gerry Glasco called the overall talent level “unbelievable.”
“There’s literally — I think anyone in the field can win it, and I just don’t see anybody that’s going to be a clear-cut favorite,” he said. “I think it’s going to be a war from start to finish. There’s just so many teams that are really good here.”
Alabama, with junior star Jocelyn Briski (22-3, 1.30 ERA) leading the Crimson Tide in the pitching circle, will open against UCLA in the third of four games set for Thursday in Oklahoma City. The Bruins, who also swept through their regional and super regional in Los Angeles, boast record-setting slugger Megan Grant in a lineup that has made the Bruins the top-scoring team in the nation this spring.
Briski, who has 198 strikeouts in 156 2/3 innings pitched this season, combined with teammate Vic Moten to limit SEC rival LSU to one run and seven hits in two games at the Tuscaloosa Super Regional.
“I just think really the main goal here is to just go out and win one game at a time and win each game,” Briski said. “I’m just excited to take the field. It all starts tomorrow, and we’re just focusing on that game tomorrow.”
Alabama pitchers can expect to be tested right away.
UCLA (52-8) features Grant, who was a finalist for USA Softball’s college player of the year award and has 40 home runs in 2026 — the most in any single NCAA D-I softball season — and Jordan Woolery, the 2026 Big Ten player of the year who is on pace to become the first athlete in NCAA softball history to hit .500 with 30 or more homers and 100 or more RBIs in the same season.
“I think a lot of the times me and Jordan are talked about as a duo, but I’m happy to say that I can finally talk about her individually, because what she’s done this year is simply incredible,” Grant said. “I mean, honestly, she’s just going out there and she’s being herself, and she’s being everything that we always knew that she could be.”
Nebraska is making its first WCWS appearance since 2013, but the Huskers (51-6) have won 26 straight games and are led by USA Softball college player of the year Jordy Frahm, a senior pitcher who is quite familiar with this event.
Frahm led Oklahoma to a national title in 2023 as Jordy Bahl before transferring, then later getting married and changing her name. Her previous team — eight-time national champion Oklahoma — won’t be making the 26-mile drive to Oklahoma City’s Devon Park for the first time since 2015.
The third-seeded Sooners, who won four of the past five national titles, were eliminated by SEC upstart Mississippi State in three games at the Norman Super Regional. The Bulldogs, who join Arkansas as this year’s WCWS newcomers, are coached by Samantha Ricketts, a former All-American who played for coach Patty Gasso at Oklahoma.
“This week right now has been about enjoying the moment after obviously a historic super regional for us, and also just being where our feet are,” Ricketts said. “We want our players to enjoy every step of this, being present, but then really using today to lock back in and knowing that we’re not done yet.”
Mississippi State will open against 2025 runner-up Texas Tech and ace NiJaree Canady. The Big 12 champion Red Raiders took down sixth-seeded Florida of the SEC at the Gainesville Super Regional and are looking to get back to the title round in Oklahoma City.
Canady, who wore down against Texas last year, now has help from pitcher Kaitlyn Terry, a transfer from UCLA.
Arkansas, the team with the top regular season RPI, which measures strength of schedule and quality of wins among other metrics, will make its Devon Field debut after the Razorbacks came up short in super regionals in 2018, 2021, 2022 and 2025 before breaking through by dominating their regional and super regional in Fayetteville.
Coach Courtney Deifel’s team racked up 26 run-rule victories this season, including five straight heading into the WCWS.
Texas will begin its bid for a second national title in an all-SEC pairing against Tennessee, which features hard-throwing Karlyn Pickens, the No. 1 overall pick in this year’s Athletes Unlimited Softball League draft.
The Lady Volunteers are making their 10th WCWS appearance, and Pickens (15-7, 1.53 ERA and six saves) is among the reasons why with 180 strikeouts in 132 1/3 innings as a senior, but coach Karen Weekly can throw more than just Pickens at opponents. Tennessee has two pitchers who rank among the national top five in ERA, with junior Sage Mardjetko (0.99) second and sophomore Erin Numar (1.09) fourth.
“They definitely have three pitchers that have shown they can beat anybody at any time,” Texas coach Mike White said. “They’re dangerous. They’re well coached.”
The Longhorns counter with Teagan Kavan, the most outstanding player honoree at last year’s WCWS. Kavan has a 25-5 record with a 2.47 ERA and was in the circle when Texas beat Alabama 7-1 in the SEC title matchup. At the plate, Katie Stewart leads the Longhorns with a .436 average and 27 home runs.
And while some may consider it strange not have mainstay Oklahoma around for this WCWS, Alabama coach Tim Murphy invited supporters of the Sooners to switch their allegiance for the next 10 days or so.
“To all the Oklahoma fans that are looking for a team to cheer for, it’s right here,” Murphy told reporters at media day. “We have the same color palette. AMA at the bottom. You can almost think it says Oklahoma, pretend it does. I’ll take those 10,000 fans cheering for us.”
2026 WOMEN’S COLLEGE WORLD SERIES
At Devon Park in Oklahoma City
No. indicates overall seed in 64-team field for NCAA Division I tournament; all times Eastern; x-if necessary.
Double-elimination bracket
Thursday, May 28
Game 1: Mississippi State (43-19) vs. No. 11 Texas Tech (57-7), noon
Game 2: No. 7 Tennessee (47-10) vs. No. 2 Texas (47-11), 2:30 p.m.
Game 3: No. 8 UCLA (52-8) vs. No. 1 Alabama (54-7), 7 p.m.
Game 4: No. 5 Arkansas (47-11) vs. No. 4 Nebraska (51-6), 9:30 p.m.
Friday, May 29
Game 5: G1 loser vs. G2 loser, 7 p.m.
Game 6: G3 loser vs. G4 loser, 9:30 p.m.
Saturday, May 30
Game 7: G1 winner vs. G2 winner, 3 p.m.
Game 8: G3 winner vs. G4 winner, 7 p.m.
Sunday, May 31
Game 9: G5 winner vs. G8 loser, 3 p.m.
Game 10: G6 winner vs. G7 loser, 7 p.m.
Monday, June 1
Game 11: G7 winner vs. G9 winner, noon
x-Game 12: G7 winner vs. G9 winner, 2:30 p.m.
Game 13: G8 winner vs. G10 winner, 7 p.m.
x-Game 14: G8 winner vs. G10 winner, 9:30 p.m.
—————
WCWS finals
(Best-of-three series)
Wednesday, June 3
TBD teams, 8 p.m.
Thursday, June 4
TBD teams, 8 pm.
Friday, June 5
x-TBD teams, 8 p.m.