DIVISION I SOFTBALL TOURNAMENT WORLD SERIES

The stage is set and the three Big 12 schools on the way will not only save on Joe Biden’s outrageous prices at the gas pumps, but will be in quest of the NCAA National Division I Softball Tournament trophy sought by the Elite Eight in the World Series to be played at Oklahoma City, and with the initial pitch scheduled in the circle for Thursday. day two of June,

The nearest enroute is top-ranked, top-seeded Oklahoma at 54-2 and only about 30 miles south of its campus in Norman, and in the hunt for its sixth national championship. Then comes 7th-seeded Oklahoma State (46-12) from Stillwater and unseeded (43-19) Texas from Austin. It’s rare to find this conference going 3-for-3 in the Super Regionals, but it did as the Longhorns stunned 4th-seeded Arkansas of the Southeastern Conference, 2-1, in the best-of-three series.

The Cowgirls in turn went 2-0 against 10th-seeded Clemson of the Atlantic Coast Conference, and the Sooners handily eliminated 16th-seeded University of Central Florida of the American Atlantic Conference in five and seven-inning romps.

Rounding out the field as the other unseeded teams are Arizona (38-20) and Oregon State (39-20) of the Pac-12, which also has three of its schools in the field. The Wildcats won 2-of-3 at Arkansas and the Beavers won both times at Stanford.

Joining the other seeds is No. 5 UCLA (48-8) the third team from the PAC-12, No. 9 Northwestern (45-11) of the Big Ten, and No. 14 Florida (48-17) also of the SEC. The Bruins turned back 12th-seeded Duke, 2-0 and 7-2.

And the Sooners have been No. 1 since the first pitch of the season was thrown. They draw Northwestern (45-11), which ousted No. 8 Arizona State, 4-3 and 8-6, after dropping the middle game, and that’s scheduled for a 2:30 p.m. start.

The opener of the biggest collegiate yellow ball times leads off at the noon hour when Texas takes on UCLA, which has won a record 11 national softball titles but had to vacant the one it claimed in 1995. It is the first time for the Longhorns.

Game three slated for 7 p.m. finds Oregon State meeting up with Florida, which knocked out 3rd-seeded Virginia Tech of the ACC in three starts, and the day one closer scheduled for 9:30 p.m. pairs Oklahoma State with Arizona, and with the Wildcats as second-best in NCAA yellow ball championships with eight. Florida has won a pair in seven finals, Arizona has played in 13, Oklahoma in seven, and UCLA in 20. It is the first time at this level for the quack-quack Beavers

Oklahoma City has not been the site of every World Series. The initial six were contested in Omaha, Neb., where the men’s baseball championships are played, while one took the field in Columbus, Ga., in 1996, and in 1989 and 1990 in Sunnyvale, Calif. The Bruins won four times in Omaha, Texas A & M twice. In Sunnyvale was were UCLA hoisted the championship trophy two times, both against Fresno State, as well as in the initial World Series final back in 1982.

In 1990, the Bruins downed Fresno State in the first final played in Oklahoma City. The two Sooner loses were via 5-4 against UCLA and 5-4 versus Alabama. Northwestern is in its second World Series after losing 5-0 to Arizona in 2006.

Can it win it this time, well that depends on the rest of the field.

There have been 18 shutouts, seven by UCLA, five by Arizona, and one each from Texas A & M, Arizona State, California, Fresno State, Oklahoma and Cal-State Fullerton.

The softball may be yellow, but there’s not a yellow outfit in the field.