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, and in 1980–1982 in Norman, Oklahoma. 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.
National Softball Hall of Fame and Museum is a softball museum located in Oklahoma City's Adventure District. It includes the Don E. Porter Hall of Fame Stadium, home to the World Cup of Softball and the annual Women's College World Series.
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.
Catherine Leigh "Cat" Osterman-Ashley is an American, former collegiate 4-time All-American and 2-time medal winning Olympian, retired 6-time pro All-Star, left-handed softball pitcher and current softball Assistant Coach originally from Houston, Texas. She completed her college eligibility in 2006 at the University of Texas at Austin, where she was a starting pitcher for the Longhorns since 2002. Osterman pitched on the USA Women's Softball Team which won the gold medal at the 2004 Summer Olympics and the silver medal in the 2008 Summer Olympics. Osterman holds the Big 12 pitching Triple Crown for leading in career wins, ERA, strikeouts, as well as shutouts and no-hitters, additionally claiming the NCAA Division I records for strikeout ratio (14.34), WHIP and perfect games (7). In the National Pro Fastpitch, Osterman is the career leader in strikeout ratio (11.04) and no-hitters (6). She owns numerous records for the Longhorns and within the NCAA Division I, where she is also one of five pitchers to strikeout 1,000 batters with 100 wins, an ERA of under 1.00, and averaging double digit strikeouts. Osterman was also named #3 Greatest College Softball Player.
OGE Energy Field at the USA Softball Hall of Fame Complex is a 7,300-seat multi-purpose stadium in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, United States. It is owned and operated by USA Softball.
USA Softball is the governing body for the United States national softball team. In addition, it oversees more than 150,000 amateur teams nationwide. It is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization.
The China women's national softball team is the national team of the People's Republic of China. It is governed by the Chinese Softball Association and takes part in international softball competitions. They are ranked number four according to the 2006 ISF World Championship.
The United States women's national softball team is the national softball team of the United States. It is governed by USA Softball and takes part in international softball competitions. The US team has been dominant in international play, taking the gold medal in three straight Olympics and seven straight world championships. They won the silver medal at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. In the 2004 Olympics the team held its opponents to one run scored in 7 games. The lone run came in a 5-1 victory over the Australian team. It was the first run scored by an opponent against the US softball team in 9 games.
The U-18 Baseball World Cup is the 18-and-under baseball world championship sanctioned by the International Baseball Federation (IBAF) and its successor, the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC), and was first held in 1981 in the United States. Because it is a world championship, the results of the U-18 Baseball World Cup affect the WBSC World Rankings.
Stacy May-Johnson is an American softball coach and former player who is currently an assistant coach at Eastern Kentucky. She played college softball at Iowa and professionally for the Chicago Bandits.
The fifth World Cup of Softball was held in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma USA between July 22 and July 26, 2010. USA won their fourth World Cup by defeating Japan 5-1 in the Championship game.
The fourth World Cup of Softball was held in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma USA between July 16 and July 20, 2009. USA won their third World Cup by defeating Australia 3-1 in the Championship game.
The second World Cup of Softball was held in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma USA between July 16 and July 20, 2010. USA won their third World Cup by defeating Australia 3-1 in the Championship game.
The sixth World Cup of Softball was held in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma USA between July 21 and July 25, 2011. USA won their fifth World Cup by defeating Japan 6-4 in the Championship game.
The first World Cup of Softball was held in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma USA between July 14 and July 18, 2005. Japan won their first World Cup by defeating USA 3-1 in the Championship game.
The seventh World Cup of Softball was held in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma USA between June 27 and July 2, 2012. The competing national teams were the United States, Puerto Rico, Brazil, Canada, Netherlands and Australia. Some games were televised on the ESPN family of channels, and they were all broadcast online on ESPN3.
Kaleo Okalani Kanahele is an American Paralympic volleyballist.
The eighth World Cup of Softball will be held between July 11–14 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma USA. The competing national teams will be the United States, Puerto Rico, Japan, Australia, Canada.
The twelfth World Cup of Softball was held between July 5-9, 2017, in Oklahoma City. Japan defended their championship by defeating the United States in the title game.
