Eighth-grade student Sadie Hosid frequently visits the University of Maryland (UMD) with her travel softball team, the Rockville Rampage, to cheer on the UMD softball team. At these games, groups of girls in softball jerseys can be seen cheering, as Hosid’s team is one of many that attend these games for team bonding.
NCAA softball is on the rise, from viral ESPN highlights to programs with dramatic revenue increases. For example, Oklahoma State saw a 37% increase in revenue from 2023-2024. On April 19, the NCAA single-game softball attendance record was broken during the Stanford-California game, with 13,207 fans in attendance, an 600 person increase from the previous record at 12,566.
“We go and watch the games, everyone wants to be like the players,” Hosid said. “Everyone chooses a favorite, and it’s fun to follow certain players and keep up with their career[s].”
The inspiration of collegiate softball players often extend beyond the field. During her winter workouts, Hosid has also been coached by former UMD pitcher and current professional pitcher for the New York Rise, Courtney Wyche. Wyche is one of the many collegiate softball players who gives back to the younger softball community through coaching.
Countless other collegiate and professional athletes, such as NiJaree Canady from Texas Tech and Jayda Coleman and Kinzie Hansen former athletes at the University of Oklahoma current Oklahoma City Spark players, attempt to build a relationship with local kids. These athletes hold clinics to help the younger athletes build their skill sets.
“It’s been amazing, just to inspire the next generation of athletes,” Canady said in an interview with ESPN. “… Being able to be just a small part of the development of women’s sports, it’s a dream of mine.”
Similar to more prominent sports like football and basketball, college softball athletes are becoming household names in the softball community simply from their performances in D1.
Canady, the starting pitcher at Texas Tech, has risen to fame not only through her nearly unhittable rise ball and selection as the 2024 USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year, but also for the one-year record-breaking NIL deal she made with Texas Tech, receiving $1.05 million to play for the school. This is the largest NIL contract for a softball player in history.
Additionally, records are constantly being broken in the softball realm; on May 24, Tennessee pitcher Karlyn Pickens broke her own record for the fastest softball pitched in NCAA history at 79.4 mph.
Also making history, in 2022, Oklahoma player Jocelyn Alo broke the NCAA D1 home run record. She has now hit a total of 122 collegiate home runs. Since then, Alo is also the first woman to play for the Savannah Bananas, playing with them for a month in their 2024 season.
“It’s fun to watch how much the sport has grown,” Ginger Thornton, Director of Instructional Technology and former softball player at Baylor University, said. “It’s fun to watch how much better the players are now. It’s the same reason I occasionally watch high school softball when I can, because the players are so much better than we were, I think, and that’s kind of fun to watch.”
Having gone through both regionals and super regionals, there are currently eight remaining teams competing for the Women’s College Softball World Series Championship: Oklahoma, Florida, Texas, Tennessee, UCLA, Texas Tech, Oregon, and Ole Miss. For the past four years, Oklahoma has one consecutive NCAA championships, bringing them to third most championships ever. This year, Oklahoma aims to continue this legacy. The Women’s College World Series begins on May 29, and can be viewed on ESPN networks.
“It’s a purer form of the fundamentals of the game,” Thornton said. “ … Teams and players are evenly matched. There’s more diversity, there’s more parity among teams and players in women’s sports.”