The 1973 Women's College World Series was contested among 16 teams on May 17-20 in
Omaha, Nebraska
Omaha ( ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Nebraska and the county seat of Douglas County. Omaha is in the Midwestern United States on the Missouri River, about north of the mouth of the Platte River. The nation's 39th-largest cit ...
. It was the first series held under the auspices of the
AIAW
The Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW) was founded in 1971 to govern collegiate women's athletics in the United States and to administer national championships (see AIAW Champions). It evolved out of the Commission on Interc ...
, which had recently been established by the
Division of Girls' and Women's Sports (DGWS) for the purpose of conducting national championships.
Teams
The
double-elimination tournament
A double-elimination tournament is a type of elimination tournament competition in which a participant ceases to be eligible to win the tournament's championship upon having lost ''two'' games or matches. It stands in contrast to a single-elimina ...
included these teams:
* Arizona State
* Ball State (Indiana)
* Iowa State
* Illinois State
* Kansas
* Michigan State
* Nebraska–Omaha
* North Dakota State
* Northern Colorado
* Northern Iowa
* South Carolina
* South Dakota State
* Southwest Missouri State
* Wayne State College (Nebraska)
* Weber State College (Utah)
* Western Illinois
Arizona State won its second consecutive WCWS championship, splitting the final two games with Illinois State, including the marathon final game that went 16 innings.
Margie Wright
Marjorie Ann Wright (born December 28, 1952) is a former college softball coach. She was the head softball coach at California State University, Fresno—more commonly known as Fresno State—from 1986 to 2012. She led the Fresno State Bulldogs ...
pitched all 16 innings in that game for the Redbirds as they narrowly fell to Arizona State, 4-3. On the day of that final, Wright hurled 30 innings in three games. Ironically, for pitching too many innings in one day, a three-woman Illinois sports commission suspended her from pitching in any game in her upcoming senior season and also banned the softball team from post-season play in 1974.
Bracket
Source:
Ranking
See also
References
{{AIAW Women's College World Series
Women's College World Series
Soft
Women's College World Series
The Women's College World Series (WCWS) is the final portion of the NCAA Division I softball tournament for college softball in the United States. Eight teams participate in the WCWS, which begins with a double-elimination tournament. In other wo ...
Women's College World Series
The Women's College World Series (WCWS) is the final portion of the NCAA Division I softball tournament for college softball in the United States. Eight teams participate in the WCWS, which begins with a double-elimination tournament. In other wo ...
Women's College World Series
The Women's College World Series (WCWS) is the final portion of the NCAA Division I softball tournament for college softball in the United States. Eight teams participate in the WCWS, which begins with a double-elimination tournament. In other wo ...
Women's sports in Nebraska