1976 Women's College World Series

The 1976 Women's College World Series (WCWS) was held in Omaha, Nebraska on May 13–16, with nineteen college softball teams meeting in the 1976 ASA/AIAW fastpitch softball tournament. Most of the teams had won state championships. This was the last WCWS before the adoption of regional qualifying tournaments. Because college softball had not yet been separated into competitive divisions, large and small colleges competed together in one overall national championship.A Series Of Their Own: History Of The Women's College World Series William Plummer III Larry C. Floyd 2013 Turnkey Communications Inc. Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, United States 978-0-9893007-0-4 The Michigan State Spartans went undefeated through all five of their games to win the 1976 national championship, beating Northern Colorado, 3–0, in the final game. Carol Hutchins played shortstop for that 1976 team and would coach the rival Michigan Wolverines to the WCWS title 29 years later in 2005. Teams The double-elimination tournament included the following teams: TeamAppearanceArizona State4thCal State–Sacramento1stEast Stroudsburg State (PA)2ndIllinois State6thIndiana State2ndKansas4thMayville State (ND)1stMichigan State4thMinnesota1stNebraska–Omaha7thNorthern Colorado8thNorthern Iowa3rdNorthern State (SD)2ndNorthwestern Oklahoma State1stOregon1stSouth Carolina4thTarkio College (MO)1stTexas–Arlington1stUtah1st Bracket The bracket included 19 teams with results as shown.https://www.genealogybank.com/doc/newspapers/image/v2%3A1106B5BBD4B623A8%40GB3NEWS-139F399AE333B794%402442913-139F38D55446CB42%4022-139F7DCAAE197F98%40?search_terms=softball May 14, 1976 23 UNO Wins on Linson's 1-Hitter Omaha World Herald Omaha, Nebraska 2017-03-26https://www.genealogybank.com/doc/newspapers/image/v2%3A1106B5BBD4B623A8%40GB3NEWS-139F399C103DC808%402442914-139F38F5A498309F%4016-139F7E8830663688%40?search_terms=softball May 15, 1976 17 McCauley, UNO Post Two Wins Omaha World Herald Omaha, Nebraska 2017-03-26https://www.genealogybank.com/doc/newspapers/image/v2%3A1106B5BBD4B623A8%40GB3NEWS-139ED7660DB20E3A%402442915-139ECFE48B527913%4053-139F146D35121328%40?search_terms=softball May 16, 1976 1-C Rain Forces Shift in Softball Tourney Omaha World Herald Omaha, Nebraska 2017-03-26https://www.genealogybank.com/doc/newspapers/image/v2%3A1106B5BBD4B623A8%40GB3NEWS-139ED769580AE5F4%402442916-139ED11D6EDC8054%4012-139F145E08742B58%40?search_terms=softball May 17, 1976 13 Michigan State Undefeated Champ Omaha World Herald Omaha, Nebraska 2017-03-26Michigan State Softball Record Book 18 2009 http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools/msu/sports/w-softbl/auto_pdf/MSUSoftballRecordBook.pdf 2017-03-26 Michigan State University Lansing, Michigan 2017-03-27 https://web.archive.org/web/20170327165921/http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools/msu/sports/w-softbl/auto_pdf/MSUSoftballRecordBook.pdf deadhttp://uncbears.com/documents/2017/1/26/Softball_Record_Book43.pdf 4 2016 UNC Softball Record Book 2017-03-26 University of Northern Colorado Greeley, ColoradoOregon Softball 2015 Media Guide 42 https://issuu.com/oregonducks/docs/sb_media_guide_15_reduced University of Oregon Eugene, Oregon 2015 2017-03-05 no 2 y Minnesota 5 Oregon 1 Cal State–Sacramento 5 Utah 1 East Stroudsburg 10 South Carolina 0 Minnesota 1 Michigan State 2 Cal State–Sacramento L Kansas W East Stroudsburg 4 Arizona State 14 Northern Iowa 3 Northern State 1 Nebraska–Omaha 10 Mayville State College 0 Tarkio College 3 Indiana State 0 Illinois State 7 Northwestern Oklahoma State 0 Northern Colorado 1(12) Texas–Arlington 0 Michigan State 6"msu" The Michigan State Softball Record Book lists the scores of these wins over Kansas and Arizona State as 6-4 and 4-0, respectively. Kansas 5 Arizona State 2 Northern Iowa 0 Nebraska–Omaha 3 Tarkio College 1 Illinois State 1 Northern Colorado 5No-hitter. The Northern Colorado Softball Record Book lists this score as 5-0. Michigan State 2"msu" Arizona State 0 Nebraska–Omaha 3 Northern Colorado 2 Michigan State 1 Nebraska–Omaha 0 Michigan State 3 Northern Colorado 0 Northern State 1 Utah 5 Mayville State College 0 Oregon 11 Northwestern Oklahoma State 1 South Carolina 5 East Stroudsburg 4 Utah 1 Cal State–Sacramento 6 Minnesota 1 Indiana State 14 Oregon 6 Texas–Arlington 3 South Carolina 0 East Stroudsburg 0 Tarkio College 3 Cal State–Sacramento 3 Illinois State 6 Indiana State 2 Northern Iowa 10 Texas–Arlington 2 Kansas 0 Tarkio College 5 Illinois State 0 Northern Iowa 6 Texas–Arlington 0 Tarkio College 4 Arizona State 5 Northern Iowa 0 Northern Colorado 1 Arizona State 3 Northern Colorado 13 Northern Colorado 3 Nebraska–Omaha 2 Ranking Place School WCWS Record 1st Michigan State5-0 2nd Northern Colorado5-2 3rd Nebraska–Omaha3-2 4th Arizona State3-25th Tarkio College3-2 Northern Iowa3-27th Illinois State2-2 Texas–Arlington2-29th East Stroudsburg State College2-2 Cal State–Sacramento2-2 Kansas1-2 Indiana State1-213th Utah1-2 Oregon1-2 South Carolina1-2 Minnesota1-217th Northwestern Oklahoma State0-2 Northern State College0-2 Mayville State College0-2 See also AIAW Champions#Fastpitch Softball References Category:Women's College World Series Women's College World Series Women's College World Series Women's College World Series Women's College World Series Category:Women's sports in Nebraska Category:Sports competitions in Omaha, Nebraska Category:20th century in Omaha, Nebraska Category:College sports tournaments in Nebraska