Florida is the No. 1 overall seed in the 64-team field.
INDIANAPOLIS—The University of Florida was named the No. 1 seed in the NCAA Division I Softball Championship Sunday when the NCAA Division I Softball Committee announced the 64-team field. The Gators, who earned the top seed for the third straight year, will host Florida A&M University, an automatic qualifier from the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference.
Thirty-two conferences were awarded an automatic qualification, while the remaining 32 slots were filled with at-large selections to complete the bracket. The top 16 teams were seeded nationally and will play at campus sites beginning this Thursday.
Team pairings were determined by geographic proximity, with the exception that teams from the same conference were not paired during regional competition.
The Southeastern Conference led all leagues with 13 teams selected to the championship tournament. The Pac-12 Conference placed eight teams in the championship tournament, respectively. Three teams are making their first appearance in the tournament: East Tennessee State University, University of Montana and Saint Francis University (Pennsylvania).
Only 12 schools have been crowned the NCAA Division I softball champion since the tournament started in 1982, and all 12 will compete in this year's bracket.
DATES/SITES/PAIRINGS
*Indicates Host Institution
Gainesville Regional — May 19-21 at Gainesville, Florida
No. 1 seed Florida * (50-6) vs. Florida A&M (23-30)
FIU (45-13) vs. Oklahoma State (35-23)
Tuscaloosa Regional – May 19-21 at Tuscaloosa, Alabama
Minnesota (54-3) vs. Louisiana Tech (37-22)
Albany (NY) (27-16) vs. No. 16 seed Alabama* (42-16)
College Station Regional – May 19-21 at College Station, Texas
No. 9 seed Texas A&M* (42-10) vs. Texas Southern (25-19)
Texas (31-24) vs. Texas St. (41-15)
Knoxville Regional – May 19-21 at Knoxville, Tennessee
Ohio St. (35-16) vs. USC Upstate (44-11)
Longwood (28-27) vs. No. 8 seed Tennessee* (44-10)
Los Angeles Regional – May 19-21 at Los Angeles, California
No. 5 seed UCLA* (42-13) vs. Lehigh (36-18)
San Jose St. (36-17) vs. Cal St. Fullerton (33-21)
Oxford Regional – May 19-21 at Oxford, Mississippi
Arizona St. (30-20) vs. North Carolina (38-19)
Southern Ill. (33-22) vs. No. 12 seed Ole Miss* (40-18)
Baton Rouge Regional – May 19-21 at Baton Rouge, Louisiana
No. 13 seed LSU* (41-18) vs. Fairfield (26-26)
McNeese (42-16) vs. Louisiana (45-6)
Tallahassee Regional – May 19-21 at Tallahassee, Florida
Georgia (33-21) vs. Jacksonville St. (40-10)
Princeton (25-18) vs. No. 4 seed Florida St.* (51-6-1)
Eugene Regional – May 19-21 at Eugene, Oregon
No. 3 seed Oregon* (47-6) vs. Ill.-Chicago (38-20)
Wisconsin (33-15) vs. Missouri (29-26)
Lexington Regional – May 19-21 at Lexington, Kentucky
Illinois (37-18) vs. Marshall (41-10)
DePaul (29-21) vs. No. 14 seed Kentucky* (36-17)
Salt Lake City Regional – May 18-20 at Salt Lake City, Utah
No. 11 seed Utah* (33-14) vs. Fordham (45-15)
Mississippi St. (36-20) vs. BYU (44-11)
Seattle Regional – May 19-21 at Seattle, Washington
Michigan (41-11-1) vs. Fresno St. (34-21)
Montana (35-22) vs. No. 6 seed Washington* (43-11)
Auburn Regional – May 19-21 at Auburn, Alabama
No. 7 seed Auburn* (46-10) vs. ETSU (29-24)
Notre Dame (32-21) vs. California (30-22)
Norman Regional – May 19-21 at Norman, Oklahoma
Tulsa (39-15) vs. Arkansas (31-22)
North Dakota St. (28-31) vs. No. 10 seed Oklahoma* (50-8)
Waco Regional – May 19-21 at Waco, Texas
No. 15 seed Baylor* (43-12) vs. Kent St. (32-26)
Oregon St. (28-25) vs. James Madison (50-6)
Tucson Regional – May 19-21 at Tucson, Arizona
South Carolina (32-23) vs. Saint Francis (PA) (48-9)
New Mexico St. (29-23) vs. No. 2 seed Arizona* (48-7)
CHAMPIONSHIP STRUCTURE
The committee held selections on May 12-14. The 64-team field was selected from 295 NCAA Division I institutions sponsoring softball. Of the 64 teams, 32 teams received an automatic qualification with the remaining best 32 teams selected on an at-large basis.
Regionals will be held May 18-21 on 16 campus sites. At each campus site, a four-team, double-elimination tournament will be conducted and the 16 winning teams advance to the Super Regionals.
Super Regionals for the championship will be held May 25-28 on eight campus sites. At each site, two teams play in a best-of-three tournament format. The winners from each site advance to the NCAA® Women’s College World Series (WCWS).
SEEDING/SITES
Teams were selected to the field of 64 teams. The top 16 teams were seeded in order, and the remaining teams are paired by geographic proximity, with the exception that the teams within the same conference were not paired during regional competition.
CHAMPIONSHIP NOTES
2016 highlights: Oklahoma defeated Auburn 2-1 to win its third softball championship title.
For complete championship details, log on to NCAA.com.
