The road to the 2023 Women’s College World Series is a long one. And it begins with Sunday’s proverbial first step: the NCAA softball tournament selection show.
Oklahoma, the two-time defending national champion, will be favored to win it all in Oklahoma City, again this season: The Sooners have lost just one game this season, to Baylor in February, and lead Division I in several statistical categories.
That’s not to suggest the 2023 softball tournament will be devoid of excitement: Just look to last season, when five unseeded teams advanced to the super regional round. The biggest victim among the first-round upsets was 2-seed Florida State, but 6-seed Alabama, 11-seed Tennessee, 13-seed Washington and 15-seed Missouri were all eliminated as well.
Will the 2023 tournament see similar chaos, and will it even matter in the face of the seemingly unstoppable Sooners? Can another team break the Women’s College World Series monopoly among Oklahoma, Florida and UCLA? The Sooners, Gators and Bruins have combined to win eight of the last 10 titles, with only Alabama (2012) and Florida State (2018) breaking through in that stretch.
MORE: Watch the 2023 NCAA softball tournament selection show live with Fubo (free trial)
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