Alonzo Adams/Associated Press
To watch college softball this month has been to get frequent reminders of two milestones: It is the 50th anniversary of Title IX, the federal legislation that opened up the way for women’s sports, and it is the 40th anniversary of the Women’s College World Series.
The former is straightforward. But the latter is a little more complicated. This is indeed the 40th anniversary of the Women’s College World Series as sanctioned by the NCAA—but the tournament has roots beyond that. There was postseason college softball under the Association of Intercollegiate Athletics for Women, which organized women’s college sports before the NCAA, and there was more even before that. The first tournament to call itself the Women’s College World Series was held in Omaha in the 1960s, and the sport’s first dynasty came from the Patriettes of John F. Kennedy College (Wahoo, Neb.), who won three championships from ’69 to ’71. There is a history here that is deeper and richer than what is formally recognized by the NCAA.
