Texas wins it all again — and a quiet dynasty gets loud
The Longhorns swept Texas Tech for their second straight national championship. Teagan Kavan became the first two-time WCWS Most Outstanding Player ever. And pro softball
The Longhorns are champions again, the Red Raiders go home one win short, and on Tuesday the pros take the field. Pull up a chair.
Lead Off
No. 2 Texas closed the 2026 Women's College World Series the way it spent most of the season — on top. The Longhorns lost their WCWS opener to Tennessee and then never lost again, beating Texas Tech 7–3 and 4–1 in the best-of-three Finals to claim a second consecutive national title. Citlaly Gutierrez won the clincher in the final start of her four-year career; Teagan Kavan came on in the sixth and retired all six Red Raiders she faced, five by strikeout, to slam the door. Texas became just the fifth team in WCWS history to lose its Oklahoma City opener and still lift the trophy.
Why it matters: Two titles in two years, three straight Finals appearances, and a junior ace who has never lost a WCWS game she finished. This isn't a one-off — it's the kind of run the rest of the sport now has to build around. Full recap →
By the Numbers
42 — home runs by UCLA's Megan Grant in 2026, a new NCAA Division I single-season record. It broke a mark that had stood 31 years — Arizona's Laura Espinoza hit 37 in 1995 — and capped the most prolific power season the college game has ever seen. Source · ESPN / NCAA.
Scoreboard
WCWS Finals — last 7 days
| Final | Note |
|---|---|
| Texas 7–3 Texas Tech (Finals G1, Wed) | Five-run first inning; Katie Stewart homers in a 4th straight game, a WCWS record |
| Texas 4–1 Texas Tech (Finals G2, Thu) | Gutierrez wins her career finale; Kavan strikes out 5 to save it |
| Texas wins the series 2–0 (national title) | Longhorns repeat; Kavan named Most Outstanding Player |
This week — 5 to watch
| When | What | Watch |
|---|---|---|
| Tue Jun 9, 4 p.m. CT | AUSL Opening Day — Cascade at Blaze, Durham | CBS Sports Net |
| Tue Jun 9, 6 p.m. CT | Volts at Spark, Oklahoma City | ESPN2 |
| Tue Jun 9, 8 p.m. CT | Bandits at Talons, Salt Lake City | ESPN family |
| Wed Jun 10–Sun Jun 14 | AUSL opening series across all six cities | ESPN family |
| Through Jul 20 | AUSL regular season — 25 games per team | ESPN / CBSSN |
The college season is in the books; the pros get the summer.
Hot Corner
1. Kavan becomes the first two-time WCWS Most Outstanding Player
Texas junior Teagan Kavan threw a complete game in the Finals opener, then closed Game 2 in relief — and walked off with her second straight WCWS Most Outstanding Player award, the first repeat winner in the event's history. Her tournament line: 4–1 with a 1.47 ERA and 30 strikeouts over 33.1 innings. “She smelled the win, and she would not give that up,” coach Mike White said. Just Women's Sports →
2. Texas Tech's record 61-win season ends one win short
The Red Raiders (61–10) set program records for wins, hits, runs, doubles and home runs (145) and reached the WCWS Finals for a second straight year in just their second-ever appearance — then lost consecutive games for the first time all season. It was the final college game for $1 million transfer NiJaree Canady, who took the Game 2 loss but leaves as one of the most decorated arms of her era. “You want to see the career of NiJa end with a championship,” coach Gerry Glasco said. Texas Tech →
3. Pro softball's six-city era opens Tuesday
The Athletes Unlimited Softball League opens its second season Tuesday — its first as a permanent, city-based league with six home teams: Carolina Blaze, Chicago Bandits, Oklahoma City Spark, Portland Cascade, Texas Volts and Utah Talons. Opening Day stacks three games, capped by a rematch of last year's finals when the Bandits visit the defending-champion Talons in Salt Lake. Many of the names you just watched in OKC are headed there — Canady to the Volts, Tennessee's Karlyn Pickens and her 79-mph fastball to the Blaze. MLB.com →
4. Defending champs and a returning MVP: the AUSL names to know
The headliners aren't all rookies. Bandits infielder Erin Coffel — the inaugural AUSL MVP and Hitter of the Year, with a .566 on-base percentage and a league-best 28 RBI — is back in Chicago. So is Georgina Corrick, the Pitcher of the Year who went 6–0 for the champion Utah Talons. And keep an eye on the Oklahoma City Spark's Maya Brady, the No. 1 expansion-draft pick and, yes, Tom Brady's niece. Names to know →
5. The transfer portal opens — and the stars are already moving
With the season over, the undergraduate transfer portal opened Monday — and the headliners didn't wait. Florida State All-American third baseman Jaysoni Beachum, the No. 1 name on the board, announced “it's time to move on” after a .417 freshman year and a .549 on-base season this spring. LSU's Tori Edwards and Sun Belt Pitcher of the Year Madison Azua of Texas State are among the others already in. Expect a busy month of roster reshuffling. Softball on SI →
From the Dugout
Podcast pick · The Car Ride Home (The Alliance Fastpitch). Jami Lobpries' weekly conversation with the people who build fastpitch careers drops every Friday, and the timing is perfect: the college season just closed and the AUSL — where Lobpries now runs the expansion Portland Cascade as general manager — opens Tuesday. The show is the right listen for any parent or coach trying to map the long road from travel ball to college to pro. Takeaway: the recruiting timeline is a marathon, not a tryout — the families who come out ahead treat every showcase as reps to stack, not a single audition to ace. Listen →
Clip of the week: @risesoftballdt — Coach Melissa of Rise Softball mixes hitting, pitching and “softball IQ” reels, and her recent two-strike approach breakdown (choke up, widen the zone, shorten the swing — in that order) is a 45-second fix worth saving for the 12U–16U hitters who keep chasing with two strikes.
Worth a read: Veteran coach Ken Krause's 8 Valuable Lessons from the 2026 WCWS pulls the teachable moments out of Oklahoma City: even All-Americans boot routine grounders, nobody walked a cold pitcher into the circle — not even Canady — without a real bullpen warm-up, and the changeup and the short game still decide the games the long ball gets the highlights for. A good one to read alongside your players. Life in the Fastpitch Lane →
Play of the Week
The final six outs — Kavan strikes out the side, then closes a repeat
Game 2, Texas up 2–1, the season on the line. Mike White handed Teagan Kavan the ball to start the sixth and she struck out the side. Three outs later — a groundout and two more punchouts — the Longhorns were champions again. Kavan faced the minimum across two innings, five of her six outs by strikeout, the cleanest possible ending to the most dominant World Series run in the country.
Source: @NCAAsoftball · Watch the full clip →