NCAA softball: Tennessee, Texas A&M, Texas and more jockeying for No. 1 ranking ahead of Women’s College World Series

With the Women’s College World Series just over a month away, the country’s best softball teams are angling to move up the rankings. If you’re just jumping into the season now, here is what to catch up on:

It’s hard at the top

The No. 1 ranking has been hard to hold onto this season. It started with Texas as the preseason No. 1, but a Longhorns loss to Stanford in February allowed Oklahoma to take the top spot. Oklahoma held that position until mid-March, when it lost to Mizzou. Then Texas took the No. 1 ranking back, but back-to-back losses to Tennessee on April 12-13 opened the door for Texas A&M. But Mizzou played spoiler again, run-ruling the Aggies last weekend, so the Lady Vols started the week ranked No. 1. But they lost to Clemson in extra innings on Tuesday, so the rankings could be shook up again.

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Tennessee coach Karen Weekly said it was the kind of loss she hopes her players can learn from.

“Every game matters, but at the same time, we played a great team tonight,” Weekly said. “I thought we brought a lot of really good energy. You love being in these kinds of games. It is frustrating to lose, absolutely, but if we learn from tonight how to value those things and play cleaner, then I think that’ll help us in the postseason.”

Tennessee owns the lowest team ERA (1.70) in the nation, led by pitcher Karlyn Pickens (0.95 ERA), though Oregon and Texas aren’t far behind. On offense, Texas ranks fourth in team batting average, and Oregon 13th.

The top 10 through April 21 games were: Tennessee, Texas A&M, Texas, Oklahoma, Oregon, Florida, Florida State, UCLA, Arkansas and LSU. Texas and Oregon are tied with the most wins at 41.

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SEC is the conference to beat

Softball was already a strong sport for the Southeastern Conference, with traditional powers like Florida and Tennessee leading the way. But adding Oklahoma and Texas has only strengthened the conference. Seven of the top 10 teams play in the SEC. The Big Ten was strengthened by adding Oregon and UCLA, but it’s very likely the Women’s College World Series winner will have an SEC patch on its uniforms. If you happen to be in Athens, Georgia, the weekend of May 6-10, you can watch some of the best teams in the country at the SEC tournament.

Teams fighting to host NCAA regionals

The road to the Women’s College World Series starts on the campuses of the top 16 teams. They will each host regionals, and the winners of each double-elimination tournament will get to head to the Super Regionals. From there, the remaining eight teams qualify for the Women’s College World Series in Oklahoma City beginning on May 29.

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This means the teams hovering around the middle teens of the softball rankings have extra incentive to play well. This weekend will feature No. 17 Mississippi State’s upcoming series with Kentucky, No. 16 Stanford playing against Virginia, and No. 18 Duke playing NC State, and the outcomes of each series could determine whether Mississippi State, Stanford or Duke to travel to regionals or host.

Schedules heating up heading into conference tournaments

For most of the NCAA, softball conference tournaments will run the second weekend in May. Teams are now playing for the best seeding in their conference tournaments, as well as strong regional assignments. Here are the biggest series happening this weekend:

No. 3 Texas at No. 4 Oklahoma

• Friday: 6 p.m. ET (ESPNU)

• Saturday: 12 p.m. ET (ESPN2)

• Sunday: 2 p.m. ET (ESPN2)

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The Red River Rivalry isn’t just for football. This weekend in Norman, two of the best teams in softball will face off. Texas has the fourth-best batting average in the NCAA, while Oklahoma is averaging 6.5 strikeouts per seven innings.

No. 9 Arkansas vs. No. 2 Texas A&M

• Friday: 7 p.m. (SEC Network+)

• Saturday: 5 p.m. (SEC Network+)

• Sunday: 1 p.m. on (SEC Network+)

Few softball players in the country are playing better than Arkansas’ Bri Ellis, who is batting .490. She has 22 home runs but has only struck out 10 times. The Aggies are in the Top 25 in ERA. Something will have to give for these top SEC teams.