OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. – With top-seeded Texas eliminating No. 8 Stanford in Monday’s Women’s College World Series semifinals, Pac-12 softball has officially come to an end.
“It’s very sad,” said Texas coach Mike White, who previously worked as an assistant and head coach at Oregon. “We all don’t know how it’s going to turn out in the future, what’s going to happen, how it’s going to play out because of – you know, it was a money move, just for TV and everything.”
The Pac-12 is the winningest conference in college softball and the home of rich history in the sport. Of the 40 national championships since 1982, current Pac-12 teams have won 24 titles (UCLA’s 1995 championship was vacated by the NCAA).
UCLA is the winningest program in college softball history with 12 titles, followed by Arizona’s eight. The Bruins joined Stanford as the two Pac-12 reps in this year’s WCWS but were eliminated after losing to the Cardinal on Sunday night.
“It’s sad. It’s bittersweet,” Stanford coach Jessica Allister said. “To think about how far this program has come in the last seven years, where we’re sitting here disappointed with a top-four finish and feeling like we could have done more, that’s great.
“It’s sad that the conference is going away. Hopefully one day it will come back in some form (smiling). Really, really proud of Stanford softball and proud of the women that I’ve been able to spend all this time with.”
