Record 2.4 million watched Texas win WCWS over Texas Tech

It wasn't just Texas celebrating a historic win in the Women's College World Series over the Texas Tech last week.

The deciding Game 3 on Friday averaged 2.4 million viewers on ESPN and ESPNU, peaking at 2.7 million, making it the most-watched NCAA softball game ever.

In total, the three-game championship series averaged 2.2 million viewers, another record for the WCWS finals. It represents a 13 percent uptick from 2024, when Oklahoma beat Texas in two games to become the first program to win four straight softball national championships.

That finals previously set the viewership record, topping the prior mark set in 2015 (Florida over Michigan).

On top of it all, ESPN set viewership records for each WCWS game: The first and second games each drew 2.1 million viewers to set Game 1 and Game 2 records of the WCWS championship series.

Making its third WCWS finals appearance in four years, Texas beat its in-state rival for the program's first-ever national championship in softball. Teagan Kavan led the way, allowing no earned runs over 31 2/3 innings at the WCWS en route to being named the Most Outstanding Player.