Forget the wild, wild west. It’s the wild, wild world of college softball. After a rollercoaster slate of action in the second week of the young season, the top 25 is starting to look a little bit different. The epicenter of all that action took place at The Shriners Children’s Clearwater Invitational in Florida.

As it is every year, the tournament in St. Petersburg-Clearwater is a primer for what may come later in the season at the Women’s College World Series, with at least one team making it all the way to Oklahoma City every year since the tournament began in 2019 (excluding 2020, as the WCWS was cancelled due to COVID-19). In some cases, as many as four teams from Clearwater have met again in Oklahoma City, making up half the WCWS field in those years.

Based on what we saw this weekend, it wouldn’t be a surprise if that were the case this June as well. The most notable performance was by the Tennessee Volunteers, led by hurler Karlyn Pickens on the mound and an offense that rolled up 43 runs in five games. Four of the Vols’ five opponents were ranked, including three in the top 10 (No. 9 Nebraska, No. 7 UCLA and No. 6 Florida State).

The Vols have been dominant on both sides of the ball to start the year. Though longtime coach Karen Weekly said the offense has a different look this year in trying to lean on more speed and savvy baserunning, there’s still plenty of power — especially from second baseman Ella Dodge.

complementary ball 🥎 pic.twitter.com/R9ZCptKKBu

— Tennessee Softball (@Vol_Softball) February 16, 2026

Don’t worry, fans of NiJaree Canady and Texas Tech, the Red Raiders are still looking as strong as ever, but they had a somewhat easier schedule at the invitational. Texas Tech narrowly defeated Florida State to open things up, helped by a critical baserunning mistake on the Seminoles’ part that led to a double play after a fantastic catch at the wall by left fielder Logan Halleman.

The one blemish for the Red Raiders was falling to Nebraska, 3-2, to wrap up the action in a game that saw Canady give up the first back-to-back extra-base hits of her career. Let that one sink in. The Red Raiders aren’t going anywhere, especially with Kaitlyn Terry helping out in the circle and with a force at the top of the order in Mihyia Davis.

Other ranked squads in Clearwater had relatively successful weekends, namely Florida State — which crushed UCLA’s pitching staff in an 11-7 victory Saturday — Georgia, Duke, Oklahoma State and Nebraska. Nebraska’s schedule to start the season has been incredibly challenging, with two matchups each against Texas and Washington last weekend, four ranked contests in St. Pete and one against UCF, which is catching the attention of the softball world. A win for Jordy Frahm over Texas Tech never hurts, either. Georgia’s offense stood out, while Oklahoma State picked up some much-needed victories to get back on track after a tough opening slate.

Surprisingly, UCLA finished the weekend with a 2-3 record, with the most shocking result perhaps being an 11-0 run-rule loss to the Vols in five innings. While the Bruins have plenty of power with Megan Grant and Jordan Woolery, their pitching staff is a cause for concern, as they allowed 31 runs this weekend.

After the chaos in Clearwater, however, the biggest concerns remain with LSU, which went 1-4 on the weekend, with one of those losses coming at the hands of previously unranked UCF. The Tigers still have plenty of time to prove themselves, but the inconsistency is noticeable. The same could be said for Texas A&M, which was upset by Oklahoma State and Duke.

Elsewhere, Oklahoma did Oklahoma things, scoring a whopping 34 runs in one game against UTEP en route to scoring 91 runs — you read that right — in five games. Two ACC squads, Virginia Tech and Clemson, suffered some surprising upset losses, with the Hokies falling to both Charlotte and Michigan State and the Tigers dropping a game to Texas State before getting run-ruled by Arkansas, 12-0, in five innings.

So, if this week told us anything, softball fans, it’s this: buckle up. This year is going to be wild.

1. Tennessee, 10-0 (last week: 3)2. Texas Tech, 11-1 (1)3. Texas, 9-1 (2)4. Oklahoma, 8-1 (4)5. Florida State, 8-2 (5)6. Florida, 12-0 (6)7. Georgia, 9-2 (17)8. Nebraska, 6-4 (8)9. Arkansas, 8-1 (11)10. Alabama, 9-0 (18)11. Stanford, 8-1 (9)12. UCLA, 7-3 (7)13. Texas A&M, 7-3 (10)14. Duke, 7-3 (20)15. South Carolina, 7-2 (16)16. Mississippi State, 10-0 (23)17. Oklahoma State, 6-4 (24)18. Oregon, 5-4 (14)19. Arizona, 8-3 (19)20. LSU, 7-4 (15)21. Washington, 7-3 (21)22. Virginia, 7-1 (22)23. Virginia Tech, 7-2 (13)24. Arizona State, 10-1 (25)25. UCF, 9-3 (NR)

Just missed: Clemson, Missouri, North Carolina, Grand Canyon