Related Research Articles
The Women's College World Series (WCWS) is the final portion of the NCAA Division I Softball Championship for college softball in the United States. The tournament format consists of two four-team double-elimination brackets. The winners of each bracket then compete in a best-of-three series to determine the Division I WCWS National Champion. The WCWS takes place at ASA Hall of Fame Stadium in Oklahoma City. From 1969 to 1981, the women's collegiate softball championship was also known as the Women's College World Series and was promoted as such. During 1969–1979, the series was played in Omaha, after which the AIAW held the series in 1980–1982 in Norman, Oklahoma. There were two competing World Series tournaments in 1982. The NCAA held its first six Division I tournaments in Omaha in 1982–1987, followed by Sunnyvale, California in 1988–1989. The event has been held in Oklahoma City every year since then, except for 1996 in Columbus, Georgia when they wanted to show that it would be a good place for softball to be played during the 1996 Olympics.
The Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women was founded in 1971 to govern collegiate women’s athletics and to administer national championships. During its existence, the AIAW and its predecessor, the Division for Girls' and Women's Sports (DGWS), recognized via these championships the teams and individuals who excelled at the highest level of women's collegiate competition.
College softball is softball as played on the intercollegiate level at institutions of higher education, predominantly in the United States. College softball is normally played by women at the Intercollegiate level, whereas college baseball is normally played by men.
Midwestern College was a private liberal arts college that operated from 1965 to 1970 in Denison, Iowa. Midwestern was one of several colleges in the upper Midwest established by local civic leaders with the support and encouragement of Parsons College in Fairfield, Iowa. These Parsons "satellite schools" were by-products of the strong growth and apparent success of Parsons during the late 1950s and early 1960s, and all followed the "Parsons Plan" academic model developed at that school. None of the schools, however, were ultimately successful.
Michele Mary Smith is an American, former collegiate All-American, two-time medal-winning Olympian, international pro left-handed hitting fastpitch softball pitcher and current sports commentator, originally from Califon, New Jersey. Smith played her college career for the Oklahoma State Cowgirls for the years 1986–89 where she set numerous records in the now defunct Big Eight Conference. She is also a double Olympic Softball gold medalist with the United States women's national softball team, having played in the 1996 and 2000 Summer Olympics. She has been ESPN's lead college softball color analyst since 1998. In 2012, Smith became the first woman to serve as commentator for a nationally televised Major League Baseball game. Smith is a USA Softball Hall of Fame honoree.
Charlotte Lee Morgan is an American, former collegiate All-American, professional 2-time All-Star right-handed batting softball pitcher and current Head Coach, orginally from Moreno Valley, California. She played college softball for Alabama Crimson Tide softball from 2007-10 in the Southeastern Conference, where she is the career leader for the school in RBIs, also ranking top-15 in the NCAA Division I. She was also named a four-time all-conference honoree and twice named Player of The Year. Morgan was the No. 1 draft pick in the 2010 National Pro Fastpitch Senior Draft, beginning her career with The USSSA Pride based in Kissimmee, Florida, winning a title in 2010. In 2020, Morgan was named the head coach of the California State University, Northridge softball team after previously working at several colleges as a pitching coach.
The Arizona State Sun Devils softball team represents Arizona State University in NCAA Division I College softball. The team competes in the Pac-12 Conference, and plays its home games at Alberta B. Farrington Softball Stadium in Tempe, Arizona. Clint Myers, former head coach of the Sun Devils, guided the team to the Women's College World Series in 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2011, 2012, and 2013. The 2008 Sun Devils team won the National Championship for the third time in school history and first in 25 years.
The 1982 AIAW Women's College World Series was held from May 20 through May 25 in Norman, Oklahoma. The final two games were postponed by rain for two days. Twelve Division I college softball teams met in what was to become the last AIAW softball tournament of that organization's history. After playing their way through the regular season and regional tournaments, the 12 advancing teams met for the AIAW Division I college softball championship. Days later, Oklahoma State went on to participate also in the NCAA WCWS tournament in Omaha. In 1982, the Division I softball tournaments of both the AIAW and the NCAA were called "Women's College World Series." That moniker has been used for the annual topmost-level collegiate women's softball tournaments since the first one in 1969. Historian Bill Plummer III wrote, "With their 77-8 season record, Texas A&M could have been a contender in Omaha − maybe even the top seed − against perennial softball powers like UCLA and Fresno State. The Aggies had been invited to the NCAA's first national tournament, but chose not to go. A&M coach Bob Brock had high respect for the eleven-year-old AIAW, even as the NCAA began to overshadow it. Out of a sense of loyalty to the AIAW, Brock said, his school chose the 1982 Norman championship over the NCAA's first in Omaha."
The 1981 AIAW Women's College World Series was held in Norman, Oklahoma on May 21–24. Sixteen Division I college softball teams met in the next-to-last AIAW fastpitch softball tournament of that organization's history. After playing their way through the regular season and regional tournaments, the 16 advancing teams met for the AIAW Division I college softball championship.
The 1977 Women's College World Series (WCWS) was held in Omaha, Nebraska on May 25–29. Sixteen college softball teams met in the AIAW fastpitch softball tournament. This was the first WCWS in which regional tournaments were conducted for teams to qualify for the final tournament.
The 1978 AIAW Women's College World Series (WCWS) was held in Omaha, Nebraska on May 25–28. Sixteen fastpitch softball teams emerged from regional tournaments to meet in the national collegiate softball championship.
The 1979 AIAW Women's College World Series (WCWS) was held in Omaha, Nebraska on May 24–27. Sixteen fastpitch softball teams emerged from regional tournaments to meet in the national collegiate softball championship.
The 1980 Women's College World Series (WCWS) was held in Norman, Oklahoma on May 22–25, the first time it was played at a location other than Omaha, Nebraska, where it had been held for its first 11 years. Sixteen fastpitch softball teams emerged from regional tournaments to meet in the AIAW national collegiate softball championship.
The eighth Women's College World Series (WCWS) was held in Omaha, Nebraska on May 13–16, with nineteen college softball teams meeting in the 1976 ASA/AIAW fastpitch softball tournament. Most of the teams had won state championships. This was the last WCWS before the adoption of regional qualifying tournaments. Because college softball had not yet been separated into competitive divisions, large and small colleges competed together in one overall national championship.
The 1971 ASA/DGWS Women's College World Series (WCWS), the third in its history, was held in Omaha, Nebraska. On May 14–16, softball teams from 28 colleges met in that year's national fastpitch softball tournament, still the largest number of teams to play in a single-site WCWS. The tournament consisted of 55 games.
The first Women's College World Series of softball was conducted in 1969. It was organized by the Omaha Softball Association and recognized by the Division for Girls' and Women's Sports (DGWS) as a championship tournament. Softball teams from nine colleges met on May 16–18 in Omaha and Fremont, Nebraska. A tenth team from the Philippines encountered a travel delay en route and was forced to miss the tournament. The first day of games was rained out, causing the 16 games to be played in two days. Connie Claussen, the chair of the physical education department at the University of Nebraska–Omaha, was a driving force in organizing and directing that first tournament, as well as the next ten while the series was held in Omaha.
The second Women's College World Series of softball was conducted in 1970. It was organized by the Omaha Softball Association and recognized by the Division for Girls' and Women's Sports (DGWS) as a championship tournament. Softball teams from 17 schools met on May 15–17 in Omaha, Nebraska.
The 1972 Women's College World Series (WCWS) was contested among 16 college softball teams on May 18–21 in Omaha, Nebraska. This fourth WCWS was notable for the only appearance of a team from outside the United States, as the team from Tokyo–Nihon University of Japan proved to be a hit with both spectators and the other teams in the tournament. Three-time defending champion John F. Kennedy College was excluded from the tournament by an organizational rule change the previous month. The new rule prohibited a team from appearing in the WCWS if it gave scholarships to any women athletes, not just softball players. JFK never returned to the WCWS, and the school closed just three years later.
Kelly Katlyn Barnhill is an American, former collegiate All-American, professional softball right-handed pitcher, originally from Marietta, Georgia. She played college softball for the Florida Gators from 2016-19 and was named the 2017 USA, Honda and espnW Player of The Year. She is the career no hitters (7), strikeouts, strikeout ratio (10.5) and WHIP leader for the Gators. She also ranks in career strikeout ratio for both the Southeastern Conference and the NCAA Division I. Barnhill was selected #1 overall and went on to play for the Chicago Bandits of the National Pro Fastpitch league in 2019. In 2020, she participated in the inaugural softball season for Athletes Unlimited. Barnhill has also played softball for Team USA and Team Mexico, who both qualified for the postponed 2020 Summer Olympics.
References
- ↑ Luebke, F. (2005) Nebraska: An Illustrated History. University of Nebraska Press. p 315.
- ↑ Mary L. Littlewood (1998). Women's Fastpitch Softball - The Path to the Gold, An Historical Look at Women's Fastpitch in the United States (first ed.). National Fastpitch Coaches Association, Columbia, Missouri. pp. 145, 208. ISBN 0-9664310-0-6.
- ↑ Plummer, William; Floyd, Larry C. (2013). A Series Of Their Own: History Of The Women's College World Series. Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, United States: Turnkey Communications Inc. ISBN 978-0-9893007-0-4.
- ↑ William Johnson (1973-07-02). "Courting Time In Peking - It was friendship first, competition second as Americans drank toasts, met Madame Mao and learned that "lan chiu" is a Chinese addiction". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved 2011-04-22.
- ↑ Pesek, C. (2004) "New life on a once-crumbling campus" Archived 2008-07-23 at the Wayback Machine , Lincoln Journal Star. April 19, 2004. Retrieved 1/22/08.
