Cal Placed in Same Regional as No. 1 Oklahoma in NCAA Softball
Cal got a berth in the NCAA softball tournament for the first time since 2018, but the Bears got the toughest draw possible. The Bears will have to travel to Norman, Okla., to play in a four-team Regional group that includes No. 1-ranked Oklahoma.
The 16 four-team Regional tournaments for the 64-team NCAA softball tournament were announced Sunday, and the Bears, who are seeded third in their Region, found out they will face second-seeded Missouri in their opening game on Friday. But to get to the following weekend's Super Regional the Golden Bears will have to get past Oklahoma, the No. 1 overall seed which has won the past two national championships and may be even better this season.
The Sooners are 51-1 and are currently are on a 43-game winning streak. They have not lost a game since dropping a 4-3 decision to Baylor back on Feb. 19, and Oklahoma leads the nation in batting average (.370), runs scored per game (8.18), home runs per game (1.82) and pitchers' earned-run average (0.85). And the Sooners lead by a wide margin in all four categories.
The Regional tournaments are double-elimination events, so Cal may have to beat the Sooners twice to win the Region and advance.
The fourth team in that Oklahoma Region is Hofstra, which has the honor of facing Oklahoma in its opener.
Meanwhile, Cal (33-19-1) will begin Regional play against Missouri, which is 34-24 overall and finished 7-17 in the powerful Southeastern Conference. Missouri is one of 12 SEC teams in the 64-team field, while Cal is one of six Pac-12 teams to reach the postseason, joining UCLA, Stanford, Washington, Oregon and Utah. Cal and Oregon are the only two of the six Pac-12 teams that are not hosting a Regional.
Cal finished in sixth place in the Pac-12 with a 9-14-1 conference record, but the Golden Bears had a good RPI ranking of No. 30. Missouri's RPI ranking is No. 40.
Missouri finished dead last in the 13-team SEC standings, but still got an NCAA bid and is seeded ahead of Cal in the Regional. The Tigers are led by Alex Honnold, who is hitting .414 with 13 homers. Cal had two players named to the 20-player All-Pac-12 first team -- Makena Smith and Tatum Anzaldo.
If Cal wins that game against Missouri, it presumably would face Oklahoma on Saturday.
The 16 Regional winners will advance to the Super Regionals, where each regional winner will face one other regional winner in a best-of-three series either May 25-27 or May 26-28. The eight Super Regional winners will advance to the Women's College World Series in Oklahoma City beginning June 1.
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Cover photo of Tatum Anzaldo by Andrew Madsen, KLC Fotos
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