Oklahoma Tornado 2013: NCAA Pushes Back Women's College World Series Games Due to Storms
ByAs another tornado hit Oklahoma and headed towards Oklahoma City, the NCAA postponed Friday night's Women's College World Series (WCWS) games to Saturday, ESPN reported.
The most recent storm to hit Oklahoma dropped a tornado on Oklahoma City's western suburb and then moved toward the state's largest city. Many people in the city experienced extreme flooding as a result of the storm.
Another area of Oklahoma, Moore, just experienced devastating tornadoes that killed 24 people in the southern region of the state.
Top-seeded Oklahoma will now play rival Texas on Saturday, preceded by Washington and Tennessee, both are winner's bracket games.
Saturday night will have two elimination games. Florida will play Nebraska and Michigan will play Arizona State.
The NCAA made its announcement just two hours before the start of the Tennessee and Washington game. Teams took shelter in an underground parking garage and in tunnels that connect to downtown Oklahoma City hotels.
"It's kind of weird because you know there's craziness going on above you but you can't see it. You can't hear it," Washington coach Heather Tarr said of the severe storms above ground. "You're just like, 'what is going on? What's happening?'"
Tarr said players were shaken up and some were in tears, but all were safe and accounted for. The players of the Washington team had previously volunteered to help people affected by the Moore tornadoes, so they knew what kind of destruction the storm was capable of.
"It was a really rewarding experience for our team to go and try to help anybody that was in need," Tarr said. "After seeing what a tornado can do to a neighborhood and a community, I think our team was even that much more fearful of what was happening tonight."
Nebraska coach Rhonda Revelle released a statement letting everyone know her team was safe and accounted for, as did Michigan coach Carol Hutchins.
"Tonight softball talks a back seat because we know so many were not as fortunate to have the shelter that we did," Hutchins said in a statement. "Please keep the people of Oklahoma in your thoughts."