Cal Earns a Berth in NCAA Softball Tournament but Faces a Challenge

Cal earned a berth in the NCAA Softball Tournament field, which was announced Sunday, and the Golden Bears even got a No. 2 seed in its four-team regional.

But advancing out of that regional and into the Super Regional will be a challenge, because Cal has to travel to Norman, Oklahoma, where the host team is Oklahoma. The Sooners have won each of the past four national championships, and they are the No. 2 overall seed in the 64-team NCAA tournament.

Cal (35-19) is in the NCAA tournament for the third straight year. Last year, the Bears were sent to the Baton Rouge, Louisiana, regional and were beaten twice by Southern Illinois and eliminated. In 2023, Cal was sent to Norman, Oklahoma, and the Bears got to the championship round before being eliminated by Oklahoma, which went on to win the third of its four straight national titles.

This year, the Bears’ will begin play in the double-elimination regional against Omaha (39-11) on Friday at 12:30 p.m.  The game will be televised on ESPN+. 

Oklahoma (45-7) will face Boston University (38-17) in the second game that day.

The two winners of Friday’s game will meet on Saturday, and the two losers on Friday will play an elimination game on Saturday.