Cal Softball returns to NCAA Tournament

Golden Bears got a bad draw being placed in the Norman Regional this weekend with No.1 Oklahoma

I fondly recall watching Cal Softball in action in the week after the school year was over back when I was an undergraduate. It helped that the memory included the year 2002, when Cal Softball went the distance and won the NCAA national championship - then, the first NCAA one by a women’s team in Cal Athletics history.

We are over a decade from the days when a Women’s College World Series appearance is a common occurrence for Cal Softball. Between 1999 and 2012, Cal made it to Oklahoma City 9-times as one of the last 8 teams standing. Cal has not made the WCWS since the days of ace Jolene Henderson in the circle. It's been long enough that Jolene Henderson is deservingly one of the 8 recently announced Cal Athletics Hall of Fame inductees for the fall.

3x @NFCAorg All-American.

4x All-Region.

3x First Team All-Conference.

2x Conference Pitcher of the Year.

Cal’s all-time wins leader.

Welcome to the Cal Hall of Fame, @Jolenecal54!

#GoBears

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The 2023 Cal Softball (33-19-1, 9-14-1 in Pac-12) team has earned a spot in the 64-team NCAA Tournament. It is the first NCAA Tournament berth in the Chelsea Spencer era and the first postseason trip for the Golden Bears program since 2018.

Could Cal advance out of the Regional to make their first Super Regional and then Women’s College World Series (both last happened in 2012)? Unfortunately, that is possibly quite unlikely as Cal is placed in the Norman Regional along with Missouri (34-24, SEC At-Large bid), Hofstra (29-25, CAA Champion), and No.1 Oklahoma (51-1, Big 12 Champion).

Each of the NCAA Softball Regional will be played in a double-elimination format. On Friday, Cal will play Missouri (4:30 PM PT on ESPN+) after Hofstra vs. Oklahoma game at 2 PM PT. The two winners will play first (12 PM P) on Saturday, followed by the two losers (2:30 PM PT). The third game (5:30 PM PT) would pit the loser of the first game against the winner of the second game. One, possibly two games will be played on Sunday (1st game scheduled for 11 AM PT) to decide the Regional Champion. All of the action will be either on ESPNU or online at ESPN+.

With an RPI of 30, Cal is the distant 2nd-seed in the Norman Regional. The Bears will take on a solid Missouri (RPI of 40) squad first. Of course, the 2x reigning NCAA Champion Oklahoma Sooners loom in the background. Oklahoma has not lost since February 19th and is in the middle of a nation-best 43-game win streak.

Cal had a short run at the recent Pac-12 Softball Championship, being knocked out by No.21 Utah 6-2 in the quarterfinals. Utah jumped out to a big inning against Cal starter Haylei Archer and never looked back.

Golden Bears earned this opportunity to dance in the NCAA Tournament thanks mostly to their offense. Cal led the Pac in both homers and doubles by the full season numbers accumulated by the Bears playing a softer schedule than some of the other Pac-12 schools.

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Nonetheless, Cal’s offensive success earned four players spots on the All-Pac-12 Team. Senior Makena Smith (0.352/0.456/0.691 with a team-high 14 homers and 44 RBI) and Tatum Anzaldo (0.390/0.472/0.574) were both selected to the All-Pac-12 First Team. Senior catcher Kacey Zobac (0.338/0.462/0.601 with 9 homers) and freshman infielder Elon Butler (0.279/0.314/0.510 with 9 homers) were both selected to the All-Pac-12 Third Team.

Inside the circle, Cal’s pitching has improved over the past couple of years by limiting the homers given up. With a lot of basepath traffic allowed (team WHIP is 1.50), Cal's pitching is far from elite. Yet Haylei Archer (3.35 ERA), Annabel Teperson (3.15 ERA), and Anna Reimers (2.82 ERA) have limited the damage despite the low K-rates. The NCAA tournament has tweaked its format since 20 years ago that a winning team will need to rely on at least two pitchers. I am not sure Cal’s run will be long enough for this to matter.

Missouri, as a part of the SEC conference that arguably has overtaken the Pac-12 as the best softball conference, has made the NCAA tournament for 16 straight years. Part of this SEC argument is how all of their teams have made the NCAA tournaments, including Missouri this year as the 13th and worst team in SEC with a 7-17 conference record. Alex Honnold (0.414/0.554/0.800 with 13 homers) and Jeanna Laird (0.340/0.429/0.415) are the Tigers' top players.  

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Makena Smith has been a great player for a Cal program that has produced a number of greats. I am happy for her to end her brilliant collegiate career on the big stage which is the NCAA tournament. Golden Bears should be able to pick up a postseason win or two this weekend. If they can somehow pull off the seemingly impossible feat of eliminating Oklahoma, then they would also instantly be a national champion contender. I would love to be writing about that on Sunday. Otherwise, this 2023 postseason will hopefully be the start of another long postseason streak (with 64 teams, this doesn't really mean that much) for the program. It is good to have some Cal Softball postseason games to watch again.