It was a year of firsts for the Ole Miss softball program. The Rebels had reached the super regionals twice following home regionals in 2017 and 2019, but this marked their first road regional championship in program history. In their previous two Super Regionals, they were swept by the 5-seed UCLA in 2017 and the 6-seed Arizona in 2019. However, they secured their first Super Regional win in game one of the Fayetteville Super Regional. Their most significant accomplishment, of course, is winning their first super regional and advancing to the Women's College World Series for the first time in program history. Let's take a look at the field.
Ole Miss will open up play in Oklahoma City today at 6:00 pm against the Big 12 regular season and tournament champions, Texas Tech. The Red Raiders, led by first-year head coach and Big 12 Coach of the Year Gerry Glasco, advanced to the WCWS as the 12-seed after knocking off the 5-seed Florida State in the Tallahassee Super Regional. This was Texas Tech's first Super Regional appearance and WCWS appearance. Ole Miss and Texas Tech are paired with 9. UCLA, which advanced after beating 8. South Carolina in the Columbia Super Regional, and 16. Oregon, after knocking off the College Station regional winner, Liberty, at home.
Texas Tech is notably led by Stanford transfer NiJaree Canady, the 2024 USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year and the 2024-2025 National Fastpitch Coaches Association Pitcher of the Year. Canady dazzled this year with a 40-5 record, 0.89 ERA, and 0.72 WHIP in over 200 innings of work. At the plate, she batted .315 and led the Red Raiders with a .454 OBP, .720 slugging, and 1.174 OPS. While Canady is polarizing in the circle and batter's box, Texas Tech has a complete lineup, with the majority of their lineup hitting over .300. Ole Miss should not be star-struck, as they held 2025 Player of the Year Bri Ellis to one hit in the Super Regional.
UCLA is led by Savannah Pola (.440 batting average), Megan Grant (1.487 OPS, 25 HR), and Jordan Woolery (1.400 OPS, 23 HR). Oregon's lineup features five starters with an OPS over 1.000, led by sisters Kedre and Kai Luschar, hitting .444 and 4.21, respectively. In her second WCWS appearance, Jamie Treschel will have her team ready to carry their momentum into Oklahoma City.