NORMAN, Okla. - (3) Omaha softball (39-11, 14-4 Summit) is set to make its third straight NCAA tournament appearance on Friday, May 16 when the Mavericks face (2) Cal (35-19, 11-13 ACC) in the opening round of the 2025 NCAA Division I Softball Championship to kickoff the Norman regional, hosted by (1) Oklahoma at Love's Field. The Sooners face (4) Boston University following the Mavericks' clash with the Golden Bears.

First pitch of Friday's postseason tilt is set for 2:30 p.m. CT on ESPN+.

Mike Heard's Mavericks, Summit League regular season and tournament champions, have won 10 of their last 12 outings heading into the NCAA Championship. No stranger to the Greatest Show on Dirt, Omaha advanced to last season's Columbia Regional final. Omaha is a three-seed for the second time in program history (2023).

Starting in the circle, sophomore left-handed pitcher Maddia Groff (26-5) is expected to make her 30th start of the season when Omaha takes the field Friday against Cal. An NFCA Midwest First Team All-Region selection, Groff, the Summit League Pitcher of the Year, owns a 1.62 ERA, holding opposing hitters to a .199 average at the plate. Groff has fanned 238 opponents this season (eighth in Division I) and boasts a strikeout-to-walk ratio of 9.92, the second best in the nation.

With a pair of perfect games under her belt this season (one solo and one combined) against North Dakota, Groff ranks in the top five nationally in victories, WHIP (0.85) and walks allowed per seven innings (0.88). Groff led the Summit League in all of the major pitching statistical categories this season [conference games only]: ERA (0.93); opposing batting average (.154); innings pitched (75.1); strikeouts (92); batters struck out looking (21); wins (11).

Standing in the hot corner, senior third baseman Sydney Thomason has emerged as an offensive power on the national scene this season, slashing a .368/.473/.737 in 50 starts. Thomason was one of three Mavericks to earn First Team All-Summit honors this season and was named to the Midwest Third Team All-Region, announced earlier Thursday. Thomason is Omaha's leader in home runs (13); hits (56); RBI (58); doubles (17) and walks (25). Her 17 doubles rank 21st in the nation and 1.16 runs batted in per game rank 25th in Division I. The Ripon, Calif. product has started 210 games over her career, which began at Nebraska-Kearney for her first two seasons. A senior, Thomason owns 17 multi-hit games in 2025 to go along with 15 multi-RBI outings.

One of the nation's best defensive teams, Omaha boasts a .980 fielding percentage, good for fifth in Division I.

The winner of Friday's game faces the victorious ballclub in the Oklahoma-Boston University bout on Saturday, May 17 at 1 p.m. CT. The two defeated teams meet in an elimination game at 3:30 p.m. CT on Saturday in Norman.

Click here for the full bracket.
 

Game Notes

• Omaha softball has qualified for three straight NCAA tournaments... most appearances by any Omaha women's team in NCAA tournaments.
• Mavericks won the Summit League Regular Season Championship for the first time in program history.
• Three Mavericks (Maddia Groff, Rylinn Groff and Katherine Johnson) faced Cal in the NCAA tournament last season when the trio played at Southern Illinois... M. Groff earned a win and a save vs. the Golden Bears.
• Omaha owns a fielding percentage of .980 heading into the tournament, good for fifth in Division I... Omaha was also fifth in 2024 heading into postseason play.
• Former Cal coach Diane Ninemire, the aunt of current Omaha Senior Associate Athletic Director Dr. Taryn Ninemire, played at Omaha from 1978-80... Ninemire coached 33 seasons at Cal from 1988-2020 and is currently eighth all-time by victories among NCAA head coaches having finished her career with 1,359 wins.

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