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Women’s College World Series betting preview: Can anyone stop Oklahoma’s 4-peat?
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The Women’s College World Series will get underway on Thursday afternoon in Oklahoma City.
No. 2-seeded Oklahoma will be looking to make history by winning its 4th consecutive WCWS title. The Sooners are favored in the betting markets to do so despite being the No. 2 seed behind Big 12-rival Texas.
The No. 1-seeded Longhorns struggled a bit in the Super Regional round against Texas A&M, but were ultimately able to prevail. Six of the top 8 seeds overall were able to reach the Women’s College World Series this year.
Here’s a breakdown of all 8 WCWS teams along with their best odds to take home the national championship:
No. 1 Texas (+400 on FanDuel)
It’s not often you have the opportunity to bet the No. 1 overall seed at +400 odds. It’s especially surprising given that Texas is at the top of virtually every national ranking (both human polls and computer models).
It’s less surprising when you consider that Oklahoma has won each of the last 3 titles and certainly could have had a claim to the No. 1 seed in this tournament. Texas and Oklahoma went 2-2 in head-to-head matchups during the regular season, with the Longhorns winning 2-of-3 in a regular-season series in Austin. Oklahoma triumphed over UT in the Big 12 Championship Game.
It’s worth noting that Texas also has a pretty difficult matchup in the first round of the Women’s College World Series. The Longhorns are matched up with No. 8-seeded Stanford, who is led by ace NiJaree Canady. Softball fans may remember Canady’s incredible performance in OKC last year as a freshman. She’s back again with the Cardinal after posting a remarkable 0.65 ERA so far this year. Canady has a good argument as the best pitcher at the WCWS — an event that rewards dominant pitching performances. Texas is favored in this matchup (-175 on DraftKings) but it won’t be an easy 7 innings for the Longhorns.
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No. 2 Oklahoma (-140 on Caesars)
Oklahoma swept through its Regional and Super Regional opponents, but the Sooners weren’t quite as dominant as they usually are during the regular season — a big reason why they aren’t the No. 1 seed. OU lost 5 conference games this year, although 4 of them came to teams who will be in Oklahoma City this week.
Oklahoma hasn’t quite found a like-for-like replacement for the dominant Jordy Bahl, who transferred home to Nebraska last offseason after leading OU to back-to-back titles. Oklahoma State transfer Kelly Maxwell has been the Sooners’ ace this season, but it’s been more of a collective effort with Kierston Deal and Nicole May also contributing significant innings.
However, it’s been Maxwell who has been tasked with facing the Longhorns most-often this season. She’s 2-1 against UT this year and has allowed 5 earned runs across 17 innings of work in 3 appearances. Maxwell also has 23 strikeouts during that time in the circle. If the championship series does end up featuring Oklahoma and Texas, how Maxwell pitches against the Longhorns will go a long way toward deciding the outcome. And so far this year, this has been a good matchup for the Sooners.
Oklahoma will face Duke in the opening round of the Women’s College World Series.
No. 4 Florida (+1400 on bet365)
Florida is the next-highest seed remaining after No. 3-seeded Tennessee was upset by Alabama in the Super Regional round. The Gators got here by sweeping their Regional and then beating Baylor in their Super Regional in 3 games.
The SEC was arguably the toughest conference in the country this season and Florida was very impressive all year long. UF went 17-7 during the regular season and then won the SEC Tournament title.
Florida does have a bit of a limited pitching staff. The Gators primarily leaned on 2 arms all year long: Keagan Rothrock (2.43 ERA in 233.2 innings) and Ava Brown (3.35 ERA in 121.1 innings). No other Florida pitcher threw even 35 innings in 2024.
Offensively, Florida led the SEC by a significant margin with a .337 batting average and a .595 slugging percentage. Skylar Wallace is the name to know for Florida. Wallace hit .421 this year (2nd on the team) with a team-best .803 slugging percentage. Wallace also swiped 36 bags on 38 attempts this year.
Florida will face No. 5-seeded Oklahoma State in the opening round.
No. 5 Oklahoma State (+1400 on ESPN BET)
Oklahoma State has a remarkable achievement on its résumé: It won regular-season series against both Texas and Oklahoma, the top 2 teams in the country. The Cowgirls did falter against weaker competition at times this year, but they’ve proven to be up to the task against the elite of the elite in college football.
That — plus a considerable home field advantage against most of the teams in this field — should give Oklahoma State plenty of confidence going into the WCWS.
Oklahoma State has rebounded well from losing its longtime ace, Kelly Maxwell, to rival Oklahoma in the transfer portal after last season. Lexi Kilfoyl was arguably the best pitcher in the Big 12 this season as she posted a 1.06 ERA in 171 innings of work.
Offensively, the Cowgirls aren’t quite as potent. They finished 4th in the Big 12 in batting average this year and 3rd in slugging percentage. Caroline Wang is Oklahoma State’s leader at the plate, as she hit .380 with a team-best 17 homers this season.
Oklahoma State will meet Florida on Thursday evening in opening-round action.
No. 6 UCLA (+1800 on ESPN BET)
UCLA is a mainstay at the Women’s College World Series, and the Bruins had no issues getting back to Oklahoma City again in 2024. Over the last few weeks, UCLA has won the Pac-12 Tournament, swept its regional and out-scored Georgia 14-1 over the course of 2 Super Regional beatdowns.
At +1800, UCLA is an incredible value. Most other books have the Bruins priced at around +1000 to take home the top prize in OKC. And for good reason — UCLA enters this week ranked No. 3 nationally in Warren Nolan’s ELO rankings.
Taylor Tinsley has been impressive at times in the circle this year for UCLA. She’s struck out 161 batters in 138.2 innings of work — an elite ratio for a college pitcher. However, Tinsley has been stung by the long ball 19 times in just 31 appearances. That has resulted in a 2.53 ERA on the year. Kaitlin Terry is UCLA’s other name to know as far as pitchers are concerned — she has a 3.04 ERA in 171.2 innings. Terry also also conceded 19 home runs this season.
Offensively, Maya Brady and Sharlize Palacios both stick out on the stat sheet. That duo leads UCLA in batting average, home runs, RBI, slugging percentage and walks, amongst other categories. This will be the 3rd trip to the WCWS for both Brady and Palacios (although the latter’s first 2 appearances in OKC came with Arizona) so they have plenty of experience on this stage.
UCLA will draw Alabama in the first round on Thursday.
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No. 8 Stanford (+1600 on bet365)
As mentioned in the Texas section, Stanford is led by arguably the nation’s top pitcher in NiJaree Canady. Last season, Canady led the Cardinal all the way to the semifinals of the WCWS — and gave eventual-champion Oklahoma all it wanted along the way.
The case for Stanford to contend for the national title rests almost completely on Canady’s right shoulder. She’s the most dominant pitcher in the game and will be called upon in virtually any high-leverage situation the Cardinal find themselves in. Regan Krause did pitch well as a No. 2 this year, posting a 2.94 ERA in 145 innings of action.
Offensively, Stanford is just limited. It hit just .273 during the regular season, which ranked 8th amongst 9 Pac-12 teams. Stanford also finished in the bottom half of the league in both home runs and slugging percentage.
Stanford will face top-seeded Texas in the first round in OKC.
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No. 10 Duke (+3000 on FanDuel)
This is Duke’s first-ever appearance in the Women’s College World Series. The Blue Devils got here by upsetting a really good Missouri team in the Super Regionals. They also swept the ACC’s regular-season and conference tournament titles.
Duke’s reward is a matchup against the 3-time defending national champion Oklahoma Sooners. The Blue Devils faced OU in their season-opener back in February and lost 3-0. Cassidy Curd got the start in that game, but it could be Jala Wright who gets the nod in the circle on Thursday night. Wright was very impressive this season as the senior struck out 187 batters in 157.1 innings while posting an ERA of 1.28.
Unsurprisingly, Duke is a big underdog in Game 1. DraftKings has Oklahoma at -310 on the money line while Duke is priced at +240.
No. 16 Alabama (+4000 on FanDuel)
Alabama pulled off the biggest upset of the Super Regional round, ousting Tennessee in Knoxville. As a result, the Crimson Tide have now reached the Women’s College World Series in 4 of the last 5 seasons (excluding 2020).
Alabama is clearly a talented team, but there’s a reason why it is the biggest longshot in the field. The Tide went under .500 in SEC play this season, mostly because of their struggles offensively. Alabama hit just .252 as a team, which ranked 12th in the SEC.
Alabama does have a very strong pitching staff, however. Led by Kayla Beaver, Alabama was 1 of just 2 SEC teams to post a team-wide ERA under 2 this season (the other being Tennessee). Beaver had a 1.58 ERA this season and will give Alabama a chance to win any game she pitches in.
PICKS: UCLA +1800 and Texas +400
Spenser is a news editor for Saturday Down South and covers college football across all Saturday Football brands.
