Women’s College World Series Preview-Softball In Oklahoma City

The top-seeded Florida Gator softball team is set to open up Women’s College World Series(WCWS) action on Thursday. Florida will be taking on Texas A&M in the first game of the day at noon. Florida-Texas A&M is one of four match-ups taking place throughout the day. The other games include UCLA-LSU, Oregon-Washington and Oklahoma-Baylor.

Florida-Texas A&M

To get to Oklahoma City for the WCWS, Texas A&M won all of their Regional match-ups in College Station. Unlike Florida, the Aggies then went on the road for Super Regionals to take on Tennessee. After dropping the first game 8-1, Texas A&M bounced back with a pair of wins to eliminate the Volunteers. The Gators also dropped the first game of their Super Regional in Gainesville to Alabama 3-0, but then Florida recovered with 2-0 and 2-1 victories over the Crimson Tide.

The Gators and Aggies have not met this season. However, Florida took two of three games during a 2016 regular season series hosted by Texas A&M. Delanie Gourley, Kelly Barnhill and Aleshia Ocasio pitched all 20 innings of those three match-ups.

Here are their totals during the 2016 series.

• Delanie Gourley: 8 IP, 9 H, 3 ER, 3 BB, 15 SO
• Kelly Barnhill: 2 IP, 2 H, 2 ER, 4 BB, 4 SO
• Aleshia Ocasio: 9 IP, 8 H, 3 ER, 0 BB, 6 SO

https://twitter.com/GatorsSB/status/868955962308268032

UCLA-LSU

The LSU Tigers and UCLA Bruins have taken extremely different paths to the WCWS. UCLA has played the minimal number of games in Regionals and Super Regionals to get to this point. They hosted both rounds and defeated SEC tournament champ Ole Miss in Super Regionals. Conversely, it took LSU five games to advance out of the Baton Rouge Regional and three games to squeak by against FSU on the road in Super Regional action.

Player to Watch: UCLA’s Rachel Garcia made major contributions to both of the Bruins’ Super Regional victories. In the first game against Ole Miss, an 8-7 victory, Garcia pitched all 11 innings and hit a home-run. In the second game, she pitched four shutout innings in relief and picked up her second win of the round.

Oregon-Washington

The Oregon Ducks and Washington Huskies will renew their Pac-12 rivalry in their first 2017 WCWS game. The Ducks made quick work of Kentucky in the Eugene Super Regional. Washington got all they could handle from Utah in their Super Regional match-up. It took them three games to take care of the Utes. This is the fourth time Oregon and Washington have met this season. During the regular season, Oregon dropped two against the Huskies during a three-game series at home.

Player to Watch: Oregon SS Nikkie Udria had five RBI during the three-game regular season series. Look for her to get be Oregon’s offensive spark plug, she leads the team with 51 RBI on the season.

Oklahoma-Baylor

In another familiar conference match-up, Oklahoma will take on Baylor. The Big 12 foes met in Norman, Oklahoma during the regular season and the Sooners won two of three. Both teams went on the road during Super Regionals and took down their respective opponents. Baylor traveled to Tuscon, Arizona and eliminated the Pac-12 champion Wildcats. It took Oklahoma only two games to take down Auburn in their Super Regional, a rematch of the 2016 National Championship series.

Player to Watch: Oklahoma’s Paige Parker won the final game of Oklahoma’s 2016 national title run with a one-run complete game in the circle. In Super Regionals, she threw a complete game shutout. Look for the Sooners to continue to rely on their junior lefty.

When to Watch

• Florida-Texas A&M: ESPN at 12 p.m.
• UCLA-LSU: ESPN at 2:30 p.m.
• Oregon-Washington: ESPN2 at 7 p.m.
• Oklahoma-Baylor: ESPN2 at 9:30 p.m.