1981 Women's College World Series

The 1981 AIAW Women's College World Series was held in Norman, Oklahoma on May 21–24. Sixteen Division I college softball teams met in the next-to-last AIAW fastpitch softball tournament of that organization's history. After playing their way through the regular season and regional tournaments, the 16 advancing teams met for the AIAW Division I college softball championship.^[1]

Defending champion Utah State won its second national championship by defeating Cal State Fullerton, 4-3, in the "if necessary" game to become the first repeat winner since Arizona State in 1973.^[1]

Teams

The double-elimination tournament included these teams:

• California
• Cal State Fullerton
• Creighton
• Illinois State
• Michigan State
• Missouri
• New Mexico
• New Mexico State
• Oklahoma
• Oklahoma State
• Rutgers
• South Carolina
• Texas A&M
• UCLA
• Utah State
• Western Michigan

Bracket

	Upper round 1				Upper round 2				Upper round 3				Upper final												Final
	UCLA	3
	South Carolina	0
					UCLA	0
					Utah State	1
	Utah State	2
	Texas A&M	1
									Utah State	4
									Missouri	2
	Missouri	3(12)
	Rutgers	0
					Missouri	5
					Oklahoma State	1
	Michigan State	1
	Oklahoma State	5
													Utah State	2
													Cal State–Fullerton	0
	Western Michigan	2
	Creighton	0
					Western Michigan	0
					Cal State–Fullerton	2(15)
	Cal State–Fullerton	7(8)
	New Mexico State	6
									Cal State–Fullerton	1(10)
									California	0
	California	3
	Illinois State	0
					California	4																			Utah State	1	4
					Oklahoma	1																			Cal State–Fullerton	6	3
	Oklahoma	1
	New Mexico	0
	Lower round 1				Lower round 2				Lower round 3				Lower round 4				Lower round 5				Lower final
					Western Michigan	0
													Missouri	0
	South Carolina	0			Texas A&M	1(11)
									Texas A&M	3			Texas A&M	1
	Texas A&M	4
									Michigan State	2											Cal State–Fullerton	5
					Oklahoma	1
																	Texas A&M	0			UCLA	4
	Rutgers	2			Michigan State	8
																	UCLA	1
	Michigan State	6
					UCLA	2
													California	0
	Creighton	4(8)			Creighton	1
									UCLA	5			UCLA	2(9)
	New Mexico State	2
									Oklahoma State	0
					Oklahoma State	5
	Illinois State	0			New Mexico	2
	New Mexico	1

Source:^{[2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9]}

Ranking

Place	School	WCWS Record
1st	Utah State	5-1
2nd	Cal State–Fullerton	5-2
3rd	UCLA	5-2
4th	Texas A&M	4-2
5th	California	2-2
	Missouri	2-2
7th	Michigan State	2-2
	Oklahoma State	2-2
9th	Creighton	1-2
	New Mexico	1-2
	Oklahoma	1-2
	Western Michigan	1-2
13th	Illinois State	0-2
	New Mexico State	0-2
	Rutgers	0-2
	South Carolina	0-2

See also

See also: AIAW Champions § Fastpitch Softball, and 1981 AIAW slow-pitch softball tournament