Record offense fuels NCAA Women's Softball World Series

Added: 2026-06-02

[00:00:00]And we're in the final stage of the 2026 NCAA Softball Tournament with eight teams advancing to Oklahoma City for the Women's College World Series.

[00:00:09]>> [music] >> Those games beginning tomorrow. I'm joined now by ESPN Softball analyst Jessica Mendoza. What a thrill to have you, Jessica? I'm a big fan. Have been for years. Thank you so much for joining us. It's been a record-setting season for Women's College Softball. Tell us what you're watching out for in these final games.

[00:00:28]>> Oh, Stephanie, well, I can hear the excitement in your voice, by the way.

[00:00:31]And it's exciting around here. We got NBA playoffs. The Oklahoma City Thunder just down the street. So, it's been wild. But, the record-setting you're talking about has been the offense.

[00:00:39]We've never seen more home runs, more records broken than this year. You're talking over 1,700 more home runs. Teams like UCLA this year has hit 200-plus home runs. That shattered the all-time record. Megan Grant, 40-plus home runs, broke a 30-year-old record. And when you think about what these teams have done with the bats, it has been so fun to watch, especially because we have never seen the offensive power like we've seen. Athletes are stronger. They have more preparation, just more understanding of the game. Softball is so fun to watch right now, but especially this year because the records are going to get broken. We'll see some here at the World Series.

[00:01:17]>> Yeah, 1,700 home runs. Did I hear that correctly? Wow, that is incredible.

[00:01:23]Okay, who are the biggest stars in this tournament? If you can list specifically your top three.

[00:01:29]>> Yeah, well, what's funny is it's actually the pitchers, right? Because we're seeing [laughter] so many stars offensively. I mentioned a few with the bats, but you look at Kinzie Hansen from Texas Tech. And what she has done transferring over, she got $2 million to leave Stanford, go to Texas Tech.

[00:01:45]She's been to the World Series three times. So, she's part of that $2.5 million-plus payroll that Texas Tech Tech has here. And then Karlie Keeney, we've never seen a pitcher throw 80 miles an hour. That is equivalent Stephanie to 110 miles an hour in MLB.

[00:02:02]So Carlin Pickens has the opportunity.

[00:02:04]She's already thrown the fastest pitch we've ever seen in the history of of softball at 79. Can she hit 80? It's a huge mark. And then you got Jordy Bahl.

[00:02:12]She has Listen to this, a 1.16 ERA. So I talked about all the offense.

[00:02:18]Jordy Bahl from Nebraska 1.16 ERA and oh by the way, she picks up the bat and has a 416 batting average.

[00:02:24]>> Very impressive. All right, we'll see if Texas Tech can win it all.

[00:02:27]Jessica, thank you.