Women's College World Series

The Women's College World Series (WCWS) is the final portion of the NCAA Division I Softball Championship for college softball in the United States. The tournament format consists of two four-team double-elimination brackets. The winners of each bracket then compete in a best-of-three series to determine the Division I WCWS National Champion. The WCWS takes place at ASA Hall of Fame Stadium in Oklahoma City. From 1969 to 1981, the women's collegiate softball championship was also known as the Women's College World Series and was promoted as such. In these early years, the series was played in Omaha.

Softball was one of twelve women's sports added to the NCAA championship program for the 1981-82 school year, as the NCAA engaged in battle with the AIAW for sole governance of women's collegiate sports. The AIAW continued to conduct its established championship program in the same twelve (and other) sports; however, after a year of dual women's championships, the NCAA conquered the AIAW and usurped its authority and membership

Division I

Year	Champion	Title Series Score	Runner-up	Tie-3rd		Tie-5th		Tie-7th
1982	UCLA WCAA	2-0 (8 inn)	Fresno State NorPac	Cal St. Fullerton WCAA	Arizona State WCAA	Nebraska Big Eight	Western Michigan MAC	Creighton Gateway	Oklahoma State Big Eight
1983	Texas A&M Southwest	2-0 (12 inn)	Cal State Fullerton WCAA	UCLA WCAA	South Carolina Independent	Louisiana Tech Southland	Pacific NorPac	Indiana Big Ten	Missouri Big Eight
1984	UCLA WCAA	1-0 (13 inn)	Texas A&M Southwest	Northwestern Big Ten	Nebraska Big Eight	Adelphi Atlantic 10	Fresno State NorPac	Cal Poly Pomona CCAA	Utah State High Country
1985	UCLA WCAA	2-1 (9 inn)	Nebraska* Big Eight	Cal St. Fullerton PCAA	Cal Poly Pomona CCAA	Adelphi Atlantic 10	Northwestern Big Ten	Louisiana Tech Southland	Utah High Country
1986	Cal State Fullerton PCAA	3-0	Texas A&M Southwest	California NorPac	Indiana Big Ten	Creighton Gateway	Long Beach State PCAA	Louisiana Tech Southland	Northwestern Big Ten
1987	Texas A&M Southwest	4-1	UCLA Pac-10	Cal St. Fullerton PCAA	Nebraska Big Eight	Central Michigan MAC	Fresno State PCAA	Arizona State Pac-10	Florida State Metro
1988	UCLA Pac-10	3-0	Fresno State PCAA	Arizona Pac-10	Cal Poly Pomona CCAA	Nebraska Big Eight	Texas A&M Southwest	Aldelphi Atlantic 10	Northern Illinois North Star
1989	UCLA Pac-10	1-0	Fresno State Big West	Arizona Pac-10	Oklahoma State Big Eight	Cal Poly Pomona CCAA	Oregon Pac-10	South Carolina Metro	Toledo MAC
1990	UCLA Pac-10	2-0	Fresno State Big West	Florida State Metro	Oklahoma State Big Eight	Long Beach State Big West	UNLV Big West	Arizona Pac-10	Kent State MAC
1991	Arizona Pac-10	5-1	UCLA Pac-10	Fresno State Big West	Long Beach State Big West	Florida State Metro	Missouri Big Eight	UNLV Big West	Utah WAC
1992	UCLA Pac-10	2-0	Arizona Pac-10	Fresno State Big West	Massachusetts Atlantic 10	California Pac-10	Long Beach State Big West	Florida State ACC	Kansas Big Eight
1993	Arizona Pac-10	1-0	UCLA Pac-10	Southwestern Louisiana Sun Belt	Oklahoma State Big Eight	Cal St. Northridge WAC	Connecticut Big East	Florida State ACC	Long Beach State Big West
1994	Arizona Pac-10	4-0	Cal State Northridge WAC	Oklahoma State Big Eight	UCLA Pac-10	Fresno State WAC	Utah WAC	UIC Mid-Con	Missouri Big Eight
1995	UCLA** Pac-10	4-2	Arizona Pac-10	Iowa Big Ten	UNLV Big West	Cal St. Fullerton Big West	SW Louisiana Sun Belt	Michigan Big Ten	Princeton Ivy
1996	Arizona Pac-10	6-4	Washington Pac-10	Iowa Big Ten	UCLA Pac-10	California Pac-10	SW Louisiana Sun Belt	Michigan Big Ten	Princeton Ivy
1997	Arizona Pac-10	10-2 (5 inn)	UCLA Pac-10	Fresno State WAC	Washington Pac-10	Iowa Big Ten	Michigan Big Ten	Massachusetts Atlantic 10	South Carolina SEC
1998	Fresno State WAC	1-0	Arizona Pac-10	Oklahoma State Big 12	Washington Pac-10	Michigan Big Ten	Nebraska Big 12	Massachusetts Atlantic 10	Texas Big 12
1999	UCLA Pac-10	3-2	Washington Pac-10	California Pac-10	DePaul Conference USA	Arizona Pac-10	Fresno State WAC	Arizona State Pac-10	Southern Miss Conference USA
2000	Oklahoma Big 12	3-1	UCLA Pac-10	Arizona Pac-10	Southern Miss Conference USA	Alabama SEC	Washington Pac-10	California Pac-10	DePaul Conference USA
2001	Arizona Pac-10	1-0	UCLA Pac-10	LSU SEC	Stanford Pac-10	California Pac-10	Oklahoma Big 12	Iowa Big Ten	Michigan Big Ten
2002	California Pac-10	6-0	Arizona Pac-10	Arizona State Pac-10	Florida State ACC	Nebraska Big 12	UCLA Pac-10	Michigan Big Ten	Oklahoma Big 12
2003	UCLA Pac-10	1-0 (9 inn)	California Pac-10	Arizona Pac-10	Texas Big 12	Oklahoma Big 12	Washington Pac-10	Alabama SEC	LA-Lafayette Sun Belt
2004	UCLA Pac-10	3-1	California Pac-10	LSU SEC	Stanford Pac-10	Florida State ACC	Oklahoma Big 12	Michigan Big Ten	Washington Pac-10
2005***	Michigan Big Ten	0-5 5-2 4-1 (10 inn)	UCLA Pac-10	Tennessee SEC	Texas Big 12	Alabama SEC	Arizona Pac-10	California Pac-10	DePaul Conference USA
2006	Arizona Pac-10	8-0 5-0	Northwestern Big Ten	Tennessee SEC	UCLA Pac-10	Arizona State Pac-10	Texas Big 12	Alabama SEC	Oregon State Pac-10
2007	Arizona Pac-10	0-3 1-0 (10 inn) 5-0	Tennessee SEC	Northwestern Big Ten	Washington Pac-10	Baylor Big 12	DePaul Big East	Arizona State Pac-10	Texas A&M Big 12
2008	Arizona State Pac-10	3-0 11-0	Texas A&M Big 12	Alabama SEC	Florida SEC	LA-Lafayette Sun Belt	UCLA Pac-10	Arizona Pac-10	Virginia Tech ACC
2009	Washington Pac-10	8-0 3-2	Florida SEC	Alabama SEC	Georgia SEC	Arizona Pac-10	Michigan Big Ten	Arizona State Pac-10	Missouri Big 12
2010	UCLA Pac-10	6-5 (8 inn) 15-9	Arizona Pac-10	Georgia SEC	Tennessee SEC	Florida SEC	Hawaii WAC	Missouri Big 12	Washington Pac-10
2011	Arizona State Pac-10	14-4 7-2	Florida SEC	Alabama SEC	Baylor Big 12	California Pac-10	Missouri Big 12	Oklahoma Big 12	Oklahoma State Big 12
2012	Alabama SEC	1-4 8-6 5-4	Oklahoma Big 12	California Pac-12	Arizona State Pac-12	LSU SEC	Oregon Pac-12	South Florida Big East	Tennessee SEC
2013	TBD TBD	TBD TBD TBD	TBD TBD	TBD TBD	TBD TBD	TBD TBD	TBD TBD	TBD TBD	TBD TBD

* Nebraska's runner-up finish in 1985 was vacated by the NCAA.

** The 1995 title by UCLA and any related records have been vacated by the NCAA due to scholarship violations. Criticism also centered around UCLA player Tanya Harding who was recruited from Queensland, Australia midway through the 1995 season. After UCLA captured the NCAA National Championship, Harding, the MVP of the tournament, returned to her homeland without taking final exams or earning a single college credit. Despite not violating any formal rules in recruiting Harding, the incident generated heated criticism that some foreign athletes were little more than hired guns.

*** Beginning in 2005, a best-of-three series determines the national championship.

NCAA Championships by school

School	Championships	Years
UCLA*	11	1982, 1984, 1985, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1992, 1999, 2003, 2004, 2010
Arizona	8	1991, 1993, 1994, 1996, 1997, 2001, 2006, 2007
Arizona State	2	2008, 2011
Texas A&M	2	1983, 1987
Alabama	1	2012
Cal St. Fullerton	1	1986
Fresno St.	1	1998
Michigan	1	2005
Oklahoma	1	2000
Washington	1	2009
California	1	2002
*UCLA also won the 1995 title, but it has since been vacated by the NCAA; see above.

Pre-NCAA Championships by school

School	Championships	Years
John F. Kennedy College (Nebraska)	3	1969, 1970, 1971
Arizona State	2	1972, 1973
Utah State	2	1980, 1981
UCLA	1	1978
Southwest Missouri State	1	1974
Omaha	1	1975
Michigan State	1	1976
Northern Iowa	1	1977
Texas Woman's	1	1979

Championships & Appearances by conference †

Conference	Championships (Through 2012)	Title Game/Series Appearances (Through 2012)	WCWS Appearances (Through 2012)
Pac-121	20	36	77
Big West2	1	4	19
Big 12	1	3	23
SEC	1	4	23
Big Ten	1	2	20
Big Eight3 (d)			12
WAC4	1	2	11
Atlantic 10			6
Southwest5 (d)	2	4	5
ACC			5
Conference USA			5
Sun Belt			5
CCAA			4
MAC			4
Metro (d)			4
Southland			3
Big East			3
Ivy			2
Gateway6			2
Independent			1
Mid-Con7			1
NorPac8 (d)		1	3
North Star9 (d)			1
WCAA9 (d)	3	3	6
1UCLA's 1995 WCWS participation & title were vacated by the NCAA, and are not included in these figures; see above. The Pac-12, which adopted its current name on July 1, 2011, retains all historical records from its years as the Pac-10. The conference had adopted the "Pac-10" name in 1978, but did not begin sponsoring women's sports until the 1986–87 school year.
2The Big West Conference was known as the Pacific Coast Athletic Association until July 1988. Totals include all appearances by conference members under both names, but includes only appearances after the conference began sponsoring women's sports in 1984–85.
3 Nebraska's 1985 WCWS participation & title game appearance were vacated by the NCAA, and are not included in these totals. The Big Eight merged with four teams from the Southwest Conference to form the Big 12 in 1996.
4The Western Athletic Conference (WAC) did not sponsor women's sports until the 1990–91 academic year, after absorbing the High Country Athletic Conference (HCAC), a parallel women's-only conference. The WAC maintains all historic records from the HCAC; totals include Utah State's 1984 and Utah's 1985 appearances while in the HCAC.
5Texas A&M won two titles, made four title game appearances and five WCWS appearances while they were still members of the Southwest Conference. This conference is now defunct. Texas A&M was a charter member of the Big 12 in 1996, but left for the Southeastern Conference in July 2012.
6The Gateway Collegiate Athletic Conference still exists, but no longer uses that name, and no longer sponsors women's sports. It was originally a women's-only conference parallel to the Missouri Valley Conference (MVC). In 1985, after the MVC stopped sponsoring football, the Gateway took on football as its only men's sport. In 1992, the women's portion of the Gateway merged into the MVC, which maintains all historic records of Gateway women's sports. The football side of the conference maintained the Gateway charter, first as the Gateway Football Conference and now the Missouri Valley Football Conference.
7The Mid-Continent Conference adopted its current name of The Summit League in June 2007.
8The NorPac, in full the Northern Pacific Conference, was a women's-only conference that operated from 1982 to 1986. The conference disbanded when the then-Pac-10,.home to five of the final seven NorPac members, began sponsoring women's sports in 1986–87. The remaining two schools, which were members of the PCAA for men's sports, moved their women's sports to that conference.
9The North Star Conference was a women's-only conference that merged into the Mid-Con, now The Summit League, in 1992. The Summit maintains all historic records of North Star sports.
10The WCAA, in full the Western Collegiate Athletic Association, was a women's-only conference that operated from 1981 to 1986. Its final five members were all members of the conference known at the time as the Pac-10, and moved their women's sports to that league.
(d) Conference is now defunct.

† Excludes results of the pre-NCAA Women's College World Series of 1969 through 1981 (as well as the 1982 AIAW Division I tournament won by Texas A&M).

NCAA Division II

See Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women Champions for the AIAW Division II and III softball champions from 1980 to 1982. NOTE: In 1982, in all three divisions, there were both NCAA and AIAW champions.

• 1982 Sam Houston State 3-2 Cal State Northridge
• 1983 Cal State Northridge 1-0 Sam Houston State
• 1984 Cal State Northridge 1-0 Akron
• 1985 Cal State Northridge 2-1 Akron
• 1986 Stephen F. Austin 1-0 Cal State Northridge
• 1987 Cal State Northridge 4-0 Florida Southern
• 1988 Cal State Bakersfield 4-3 Lock Haven
• 1989 Cal State Bakersfield 8-5 Sacramento State
• 1990 Cal State Bakersfield 6-2 Cal State Northridge
• 1991 Augustana (S.D.) 3-2 (10 inn.) Bloomsburg
• 1992 Missouri Southern 1-0 Cal State Hayward
• 1993 Florida Southern 11-5 Augustana (S.D.)
• 1994 Merrimack 6-2 Humboldt State
• 1995 Kennesaw State 3-2 (8 inn.) Bloomsburg
• 1996 Kennesaw State 6-4 Nebraska-Omaha
• 1997 California (Pa.) 2-1 Wisconsin–Parkside
• 1998 California (Pa.) 2-1 Barry
• 1999 Humboldt State 7-2 Nebraska-Kearney
• 2000 North Dakota State 3-1 Kennesaw State
• 2001 Nebraska-Omaha 4-0 Lewis
• 2002 St. Mary's (Tex.) 4-0 Grand Valley State
• 2003 UC Davis 7-0 Georgia College
• 2004 Angelo State 7-3 Florida Southern
• 2005 Lynn 5-3 Kennesaw State
• 2006 Lock Haven 3-0 Emporia State
• 2007 SIU Edwardsville 3-2 Lock Haven
• 2008 Humboldt State 10-2 Emporia State
• 2009 Lock Haven 8-0 Alabama-Huntsville
• 2010 Hawai'i Pacific 4-3 Valdosta State
• 2011 UC San Diego 10-3 Alabama-Huntsville
• 2012 Valdosta State 4-1 UC San Diego

NCAA Division III

• 1982 Eastern Connecticut State 2-0 Trenton State
• 1983 Trenton State 7-0 Buena Vista
• 1984 Buena Vista 3-1 Trenton State
• 1985 Eastern Connecticut State 1-0 Trenton State
• 1986 Eastern Connecticut State 1-0 Central (IA)
• 1987 Trenton State 3-0 Wisconsin–Whitewater
• 1988 Central (IA) 3-2 Allegheny
• 1989 Trenton State 8-7 (9 inn) Eastern Connecticut State
• 1990 Eastern Connecticut State 1-0 Trenton State
• 1991 Central (IA) 4-0 Eastern Connecticut State
• 1992 Trenton State 4-0 Buena Vista
• 1993 Central (IA) 7-3 Trenton State
• 1994 Trenton State 6-5 Bridgewater State
• 1995 Chapman 4-2 Trenton State
• 1996 Trenton State 7-2 Chapman
• 1997 Simpson 2-1 (9 inn.) Montclair State
• 1998 Wisconsin–Stevens Point 3-1 Chapman
• 1999 Simpson 6-0 Chapman
• 2000 St. Mary's (MN) 5-0 Chapman
• 2001 Muskingum 5-1 Central (IA)
• 2002 Ithaca 1-0 Lake Forest
• 2003 Central (IA) 5-3 Salisbury
• 2004 St. Thomas (MN) 2-0 Moravian
• 2005 St. Thomas (MN) 9-3 Salisbury
• 2006 Rutgers-Camden 3-2 St. Thomas (MN)
• 2007 Linfield 10-2 Washington-St. Louis
• 2008 Wisconsin–Eau Claire 4-3 Wisconsin–Whitewater
• 2009 Messiah College 2-0 Coe College
• 2010 East Texas Baptist 5-4 Linfield
• 2011 Linfield 6-2 Christopher Newport
• 2012 Pacific Lutheran 3-0 Linfield

See also

• College softball
• NCAA Division I Softball Championship
• AIAW Intercollegiate Women's Softball Champions

External links

• NCAA softball webpage