The Women’s College World Series will get underway on Thursday morning in Oklahoma City when the number one seed Florida Gators softball team takes the field for the first game.
Joining the Gators in the World Series are Texas A&M, LSU, UCLA, Oregon, Washington, Oklahoma and Baylor. Florida will take on Texas A&M in game one on Thursday.
On Florida’s side of the bracket is Texas A&M, UCLA and LSU. The Gators only faced UCLA this year and they defeated the Bruins 9-4 in California.
GatorCountry.com will preview the Gators side of the bracket in this preview of the Women’s College World Series.
Florida Gators
Florida comes in with a lot of momentum after winning two elimination games in a row against Alabama to advance.
Sophomore Amanda Lorenz continues to lead the Gators at the plate with her .390 batting average and 11 home runs this year. Lorenz had a big two-run home run against Alabama. Lorenz was 5-9 in Super Regional play against Alabama.
For the Gators to get hot at the plate in OKC, Florida will need Kayli Kvistad’s bat to heat up again. Kvistad is still hitting .387 but was only 2-6 in Super Regional play.
In the circle USA softball player of the year Kelly Barnhill and Delanie Gourley will lead the Gators. Barnhill was 1-1 against Alabama and pitched 12 innings and allowed just one run.
Gourley picked up a win in her seven shutout innings in game two against Alabama.
The X-factor for the Gators in the circle could be Aleshia Ocasio who could come in as a reliever if either pitchers get in trouble.
Texas A&M Aggies
Riley Sartain has been the Aggies hot hitter this year with a .354 batting average and 12 home runs. Sartain leads the team with 48 RBI’s on the year. Tori Vidales leads the team with her 17 home runs and has driven in 46 runs while hitting .305 on the year.
In the circle Samantha Show has appeared in 30 games and started 24 of them and has a 19-7 record with a 2.01 ERA. Trinity Harrington has started 18 games and has a 1.71 ERA while Lexi Smith has started 15 games and has a 1.64 ERA.
UCLA Bruins
Kylee Perez leads UCLA at the plate with her .406 batting average on the year. However four Bruins players have hit double digit home runs on the year with Delaney Spaulding and Brianna Taulalfua both hitting 16 on the year. Madeline Jelenicki leads the team with 69 RBI’s on the year.
In the circle Rachel Garcia has appeared in 42 games and started 22 of them and has a 22-7 record on the year. Garcia has a 1.92 ERA in 182.2 innings pitched.
LSU Tigers
Bailey Landry leads LSU with her .409 batting average and 51 runs scored on the year. Sydney Springfield leads the Tigers with her 10 home runs on the year while Sahvanna Jaquish has 60 RBI’s on the year.
In the circle Carley Hoover leads LSU with a 1.11 ERA in 18 games started and 31 games overall. Allie Walljasper has appeared in the most games with 32 this year and has started 24 of them while going 17-5 with a 1.37 ERA on the season.
Here’s the schedule for the first two games of the World Series
Florida vs. Texas A&M at noon on Thursday.
UCLA vs. LSU at 2:30 on Thursday.
The winners will meet on Friday at 7:00 eastern time and the losers will meet on Saturday at 7:00 eastern time.