Eight teams remain and one of them will win five games and be crowned national champions at this week’s Women’s College World Series in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
And for the first time, the Gopher softball team is in the dance.
Minnesota, the No. 7 overall national seed, will take on No. 2 UCLA Thursday at 1:30 p.m. with the game televised on ESPN. It’s double elimination so the outcomes vary based on Minnesota winning or losing their first game.
With a win, the Gophers will advance to play Friday at 6 p.m. against the winner of No. 3 Washington and No. 6 Arizona. If the Gophers lose to UCLA, they’ll play an elimination game Saturday at 11 a.m. against the loser of the Washington/Arizona game.
No matter what, each game will be televised on ESPN. Here’s the TV schedule:
- Game 1: Washington vs. Arizona – 11 a.m. Thursday on ESPN
- Game 2: Gophers vs. UCLA – 1:30 p.m. Thursday on ESPN
- Game 3: Winners of Games 1 and 2 – 6 p.m. Friday on ESPN
- Game 4: Losers of Games 1 and 2 – 11 a.m. Saturday on ESPN
- Game 5: Loser of Game 3 vs. Winner of Game 4 –6 p.m. Saturday on ESPN
Games 4 and 5 are elimination games. The winner of Game 5 will advance to play the winner of Game 3 for a spot in the best-of-three College World Series final.
For more clarity, check out the full bracket right here.
The other side of the Women’s College World Series bracket works the same way with four teams competing for a spot in the best-of-three championship series. The four teams on the other side of the bracket are No. 1 Oklahoma, No. 8 Alabama, No. 5 Florida and No. 13 Oklahoma State.
Minnesota lost two games to Alabama by scores of 1-0 and 7-2, respectively, in February, and dropped a game at Arizona 2-0 in early March. They also lost a 2-0 game to at Florida on March 20. The Gophers have not faced UCLA, Washington, Oklahoma State or Oklahoma.
Note: Florida is led by ex-Gopher Kendyl Lindaman, who was the two-time Big Ten Player of the Year in 2017 and 2018 before transferring to Florida for the 2019 season.
