{"id":378588,"date":"2023-03-01T12:44:51","date_gmt":"2023-03-01T17:44:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saturdaydownsouth.com\/?page_id=378588"},"modified":"2023-05-10T13:23:24","modified_gmt":"2023-05-10T17:23:24","slug":"womens-college-world-series","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.saturdaydownsouth.com\/womens-college-world-series\/","title":{"rendered":"Women’s College World Series: 2023 bracket, schedule and history"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/p>\n

Oklahoma players celebrate with the trophy after defeating Texas in the 2022 NCAA Women’s College World Series softball finals.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

The 2023 Women’s College World Series returns to Oklahoma City June 1-9. Every game will be played at the USA Softball Hall of Fame Complex. The 8-team format is double-elimination, with two bracket winners advancing to a best-of-3 championship series. Game 1 of the WCWS Finals is June 7, Game 2 is June 8 and, if necessary, Game 3 will be played June 9.<\/p>\n

Women’s College World Series\/NCAA Tournament schedule<\/h2>\n

Sixty-four teams will participate in the NCAA Softball Tournament. Teams earn an automatic berth by winning a conference tournament or receiving an at-large bid.<\/p>\n

The field will be revealed during a selection show on Sunday, May 14. ESPN2 will televise the event at 7 p.m., ET.<\/p>\n

The NCAA Tournament has 3 rounds: 16 regionals featuring 4 teams apiece, 8 Super Regionals featuring the regional winners, and the 8 Super Regional winners that advance Women’s College World Series.<\/p>\n

Regionals are double elimination and will be played May 19-21 at various sites.<\/p>\n

Super Regionals pit regional winners against each other in a best-of-3 series and will be played May 25-27 or May 26-28.<\/p>\n

The 8 Super Regional winners then advance to the double-elimination Women’s College World Series.<\/p>\n

What’s different about the 2023 Women’s College World Series?<\/h2>\n

The biggest difference is that the 2023 event won’t feature the sport’s all-time home run queen, Jocelyn Alo.<\/p>\n

Alo led Oklahoma to back-to-back WCWS title in 2021 and 2022. In the process, she finished her historic college career with 122 home runs, the most ever in college softball history. She also set the Women’s College World Series record for career home runs, with 12.<\/p>\n

Alo’s absence does not mean Oklahoma isn’t a threat to 3-peat, however.<\/p>\n

The Sooners opened the 2023 ranked in the top 5 of most major polls.<\/p>\n

Women’s College World Series history<\/h2>\n

The WCWS debuted in 1982. And while its official name is the Women’s College World Series, WCWS just as easily could have represented West Coast World Series.<\/p>\n

UCLA won the inaugural event, and\u00a0West Coast teams continued to dominate the event. Teams from California and Arizona combined to win 25 of the first 30 WCWS championships.<\/p>\n

The tide began to change in 2012, when Alabama became the first SEC team to win the WCWS. Since then, Oklahoma (5 championships) and Florida (2 titles) have combined to win 7 of the past 9 titles. UCLA and FSU were the other winners in that span.<\/p>\n

In other words, the rest of the country has caught up with the West Coast.<\/p>\n

How has the WCWS format changed?<\/h3>\n

The tournament debuted in 1982 as a 16-team event. It expanded to 20 teams in 1988 and to 32 teams in 1994. In 1999, it grew to 48 teams. In 2003, it expanded to 64 teams, where it remains.<\/p>\n

Who has hit the most home runs in WCWS history?<\/h3>\n

Jocelyn Alo (Oklahoma) leads the way with 12. Former teammate Tiare Jennings enters 2023 in second-place all-time with 7.<\/p>\n

Another Oklahoma star, Lauren Chamberlain, held the record for almost a decade. In 2014, she finished her career with 6 home runs in the WCWS.<\/p>\n

How many fans attend the WCWS?<\/h3>\n

As the sport expanded, so, too has interest.<\/p>\n

In 2021, the WCWS topped 200,000 fans overall for for the first time.<\/p>\n

The WCWS set attendance records in 2022, with 12,533 attending a showdown between Texas and Oklahoma.<\/p>\n

Capacity at the USA Softball Hall of Fame Complex Stadium is 13,000. The facility opened in 1987.<\/p>\n

Who has won the most WCWS titles?<\/h3>\n

UCLA leads the way with 12 WCWS titles, including vacated titles. Arizona is second all-time with 8 WCWS championships, followed by Oklahoma (6), and Arizona State, Florida and Texas A&M with 2 apiece.<\/p>\n

Previous Women’s College World Series champions<\/h3>\n

2022 — Oklahoma
\n2021 — Oklahoma
\n2020 — No tournament
\n2019 — UCLA
\n2018 — Florida State
\n2017 — Oklahoma
\n2016 — Oklahoma
\n2015 — Florida
\n2014 — Florida
\n2013 — Oklahoma
\n2012 — Alabama
\n2011 — Arizona State
\n2010 — UCLA
\n2009 — Washington
\n2008 — Arizona State
\n2007 — Arizona
\n2006 — Arizona
\n2005 — Michigan
\n2004 — UCLA
\n2003 — UCLA
\n2002 — Cal
\n2001 — Arizona
\n2000 — Oklahoma
\n1999 — UCLA
\n1998 — Fresno State
\n1997 — Arizona
\n1996 — Arizona
\n1995 — UCLA
\n1994 — Arizona
\n1993 — Arizona
\n1992 — UCLA
\n1991 — Arizona
\n1990 — UCLA
\n1989 — UCLA
\n1988 — UCLA
\n1987 — Texas A&M
\n1986 — Cal State Fullerton
\n1985 — UCLA
\n1984 — UCLA
\n1983 — Texas A&M
\n1982 — UCLA<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The 2023 Women’s College World Series returns to Oklahoma City June 1-9. Every game will be played at the USA Softball Hall of Fame Complex. The 8-team format is double-elimination, with two bracket winners advancing to a best-of-3 championship series. Game 1 of the WCWS Finals is June 7, Game 2 is June 8 and, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":198986,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6504],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-378588","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry","category-evergreen"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saturdaydownsouth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/378588"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saturdaydownsouth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saturdaydownsouth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saturdaydownsouth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/198986"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saturdaydownsouth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=378588"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.saturdaydownsouth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/378588\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":379456,"href":"https:\/\/www.saturdaydownsouth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/378588\/revisions\/379456"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saturdaydownsouth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=378588"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saturdaydownsouth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=378588"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saturdaydownsouth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=378588"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}