• 40th WCWS begins Thursday, June 2 with Texas vs. No. 5 UCLA (noon ET, ESPN)
• Schedule features games on ABC for the first time
• ESPN commentator team of Beth Mowins, Jessica Mendoza, Michele Smith and Holly Rowe to call their 15th WCWS together

ESPN will provide full coverage of every pitch from the 40th Women’s College World Series (WCWS), live from USA Hall of Fame Stadium in Oklahoma City, Okla. The action begins Thursday, June 2 with a five-day, eight-team, double-elimination round robin tournament, advancing two teams to the finals. The best-of-three championship series begins Wednesday, June 8. WCWS games will be available on ESPN, ESPN2 and, for the first time, ABC.

The eight teams competing for this year’s NCAA Div. 1 Softball Championship are No. 1 Oklahoma (profiled in ESPN’s latest Cover Story), No. 5 UCLA, No.7 Oklahoma State, No. 9 Northwestern, No. 14 Florida, Arizona, Oregon State and Texas.

7Innings Live
7Innings Live Presented by Capital One, ESPN’s WCWS studio programming, will provide full tournament coverage live from Hall of Fame Stadium, just behind the right field wall of OGE Energy Field. Courtney Lyle will host, joined by analysts Danielle Lawrie and Madison Shipman. Lawrie won the bronze medal with Team Canada at the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo. In college, she was an All-American, Player of the Year and National Champion with the Washington Huskies. Shipman was All-American shortstop and SEC Player of the Year for the Tennessee Volunteers. Studio coverage begins with a WCWS preview show on Wednesday, June 1 at 6 p.m. on ESPN2.

On the Call
The first five days of the tournament will feature two commentator teams:

The dayside team will feature the Voice of Softball Beth Mowins, two-time Olympic medalist and four-time All-American Jessica Mendoza, two-time Olympic gold medalist and two-time All-American Michele Smith, and Hall of Fame Stadium reporter Holly Rowe. This team has a storied history with the WCWS, working as a booth team for 15 years, as Mowins calls her 28th WCWS, Smith and Rowe their 18th, and Mendoza her 15th. This team will also be on the call for the entire championship series.

The primetime team will include play-by-play voice Kevin Brown, two-time All-American Amanda Scarborough and Andraya Carter. This will mark Scarborough’s seventh year calling the WCWS and Brown’s second, while Carter makes her WCWS debut.

SEC Now
SEC Network’s flagship news and information show, SEC Now, will be live from Oklahoma City to document the journey of the Florida Gators, the lone SEC contender, as they pursue the program’s third national title. Alyssa Lang will host, joined by three-time All-American and Crimson Tide National Champion Kayla Braud.

Action from Every Angle
ESPN’s state-of-the-art softball coverage will be front and center with technological enhancements on display in every telecast.

• A drone will provide aerial coverage throughout the tournament.
• The in-stadium jib camera has been upgraded to a techno crane.
• A two-point cable camera system will fly from the top of the press box down the left-field line, offering a wide view of the field and catching runners as they round third base for home.
• A rail camera will run 80 feet along the left and centerfield wall to capture the incredible defensive plays made in the outfield.

• The home plate umpire will wear a mask camera in every game of the tournament, giving viewers a first-person look at what the umpire sees from behind the plate. All four umpires on the field will also be mic’d up for every game of the tournament.
• Telestrations will be used throughout the telecasts, both live and during replay.

2022 Women’s College World Series Television Schedule:

-30-