Correction: A previous version of this story misspelled the name of Texas Tech pitcher NiJaree Canady.
The 2025 NCAA softball tournament opened with a major upset.
A&M took the first game in extra innings but coughed up a 3-0 lead in the second, eventually giving up a 3-run home run as part of Liberty’s five-run fifth inning and losing 6-5.
Favorites otherwise mostly held serve as hosts, setting up a star-studded super regional next weekend as we head toward the Women’s College World Series in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
Two other exceptions were No. 10 LSU and No. 14 Duke. The Tigers were ejected by Southeastern Louisiana and failed to even advance past Saturday. The Blue Devils dropped two of three against Georgia, giving up a 2-0 lead in Sunday’s make-or-break regional final and losing 5-2 in eight innings.
Even with the Tigers and Aggies out of the picture, the SEC remains the conference to beat in the race for the national championship. Another eight teams from the league will head to a super regional, led by two of the top four seeds in Oklahoma and Florida.
Here are the winners and losers from the softball tournament regionals:
Winners
Oklahoma
Given the Aggies’ unexpected exit, the national favorite coming out of the weekend will be the No. 2 Sooners. Oklahoma had no issues sweeping through an overmatched crowd in Norman, shutting out Boston University 8-0 and then topping California 11-2 on Saturday and 12-1 on Sunday. Of course, no one is surprised: OU has won a record four national championships in a row and looks poised to make even more history over the next few weeks.
Texas
The Sooners’ SEC rival limped into the tournament with an 8-7 mark over the past month, raising eyebrows along with concerns that the two-time defending national runner-up would not be able to mount another run to the World Series. But No. 6 Texas responded to those doubts by rediscovering the level of play that made the Longhorns one of the nation’s best teams for much of the regular season. UT closed things out on Sunday with a 9-0 win against Central Florida that saw pitcher Teagan Kavan go the distance and allow just six hits and a walk to move to 23-4 on the year.
Nebraska
Nebraska benefited from LSU’s pair of shocking losses to in-state foe Southeastern Louisiana and advanced to the super regional for the first time since 2014. The Cornhuskers were nearly perfect, run-ruling Connecticut 10-2 on Friday – the team’s 24th run-rule win on the year, setting a new program record – before smashing SLU 14-1 on Saturday and then blanking the Lions 8-0 on Sunday. They’ll next meet No. 7 Tennessee, which swept through Miami (Ohio) and Ohio State.
Jordy Bahl
Nebraska’s do-it-all junior continues to build her case for National Player of the Year. The former Oklahoma transfer hit four home runs in the Baton Rouge regional to give her 23 on the year, setting a new program record. Bahl also has 25 wins on the mound to become the fourth player in NCAA softball history with at least 20 home runs and 20 wins in the same year. No player has ever gone 25-and-25, something Bahl could achieve next weekend against the Volunteers.
Alabama
Give the No. 15 Crimson Tide major credit for getting out of a very difficult regional. Alabama was able to miss Belmont and pitcher Maya Johnson, who entered the tournament with an NCAA-best 355 strikeouts. But getting out of the weekend meant notching two wins against an undervalued Virginia Tech that came in five spots higher than the Tide in the final RPI rankings of the regular season. Alabama beat the Hokies 4-3 on Saturday and then 3-2 on Sunday, scoring the clinching win on the backs of a two-run single by outfielder Lauren Johnson and six-plus strong innings from senior pitcher Catelyn Riley.
Losers
Texas A&M
It was never easy for a team that surged to the finish line of the regular season by crushing Tennessee, South Carolina and Florida. Coming out of Saturday’s loss, A&M needed a controversial obstruction call, six Liberty errors and extra innings to beat the Flames 14-11 in Sunday’s first elimination game. In the second, freshman KK Dement hit a 2-run homer to help put A&M ahead 3-0 heading into the fifth. Liberty right fielder Rachel Roupe hit a solo shot in the top of the fifth to make it 3-1 going into the sixth. Roupe went deep again in the sixth to put Liberty up 6-3 and on track for a historic upset.
LSU
The Tigers lost 4-3 to Southeastern Louisiana on Friday, rebounded to blank Connecticut 3-0 on Saturday afternoon but then dropped an 8-7 rematch against the Lions. The second loss was a wild one: SLU led 4-1 after the first inning and then 6-4 after five, and then traded runs with the Tigers until scoring the walk-off in the bottom of the seventh, when the Lions loaded the bases with none out before beating the throw home on a fielder’s choice. This is the third time in four years LSU has failed to advance out of the regionals, though the program remains a national power under coach Beth Torina.
Texas Tech
No. 12 Texas Tech slugged its way to the second weekend by beating Brown 6-0 and then topping Mississippi State 10-1 on Saturday and 9-6 on Sunday. But the second win included a rare off game from superstar pitcher NiJaree Canady, the former Stanford transfer and the reigning USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year. After giving up one run on five hits on Saturday, Canady allowed a season-high eight hits and six runs, three earned, in Sunday’s win. That ticked her ERA all the way up to 0.92 on the year.