Jessica Vest and Oklahoma will look to defend their 2013 championship.
INDIANAPOLIS -- Oregon was named the No. 1 seed in the NCAA Division I Softball Championship on Sunday when the NCAA Division I Softball Committee announced the 64-team field. The Ducks, champions of the Pacific-12 Conference, are 49-7-1 and will play Utah Valley, an automatic qualifier from the Western 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 this weekend.
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 11 teams selected to the championship tournament. The Big Ten and Pacific-12 Conferences each placed five teams in the championship tournament, respectively. Six teams are making their first appearance in the tournament: Bryant, Charleston Southern, Dartmouth, Utah Valley, SIU-Edwardsville and Texas Southern.
Only 11 schools have been crowned the NCAA Division I softball champion since the tournament started in 1982, and eight are in this year’s bracket.
DATES/SITES/PAIRINGS:
* Indicates host institution
Eugene Regional – May 16-18 at Eugene, Oregon
No. 1 seed Oregon* (49-7-1) vs. Utah Valley (18-40)
Wisconsin (34-18) vs. Albany (NY) (33-11)
Minneapolis Regional – May 16-18 at Minneapolis, Minnesota
Auburn (39-17-1) vs. North Dakota State (35-16)
No. 16 seed Minnesota* (41-9) vs. Green Bay (27-12)
Tempe Regional – May 16-18 at Tempe, Arizona
No. 9 seed Arizona State* (44-10-1) vs. Dartmouth (31-17)
Michigan (42-12) vs. San Diego State (39-17)
Tallahassee Regional – May 16-18 at Tallahassee, Florida
South Carolina (35-20) vs. South Florida (41-15)
No. 8 seed Florida State* (50-6) vs. Fordham (36-18)
Gainesville Regional – May 16-18 at Gainesville, Florida
No. 5 seed Florida* (45-11) vs. Florida A&M (24-27)
Stetson (38-12) vs. UCF (41-16)
Seattle Regional – May 15-17 at Seattle, Washington
Northwestern (33-16) vs. BYU (33-21)
Iona (24-22) vs. No. 12 seed Washington* (33-13)
Waco Regional – May 16-18 at Waco, Texas
No. 13 seed Baylor* (42-13) vs. Northwestern State (30-20)
Houston (32-21) vs. Tulsa (50-7)
Athens Regional – May 16-18 at Athens, Georgia
North Carolina State (34-16) vs. UAB (31-25)
Chattanooga (34-19) vs. No. 4 seed Georgia* (45-12)
Los Angeles Regional – May 16-18 at Los Angeles, California
No. 3 seed UCLA* (48-6) vs. Southern Utah (23-29)
Long Beach State (38-17) vs. Notre Dame (39-11)
Lexington Regional – May 16-18 at Lexington, Kentucky
James Madison (44-13) vs. DePaul (41-9)
No. 14 seed Kentucky* (44-15) vs. Ohio (32-24)
Tucson Regional – May 16-18 at Tucson, Arizona
No. 11 seed Arizona* (41-13) vs. Boston University (35-19)
Louisville (36-20) vs. LSU (35-22)
Lafayette Regional – May 16-18 at Lafayette, Louisiana
Texas (33-21) vs. Mississippi State (38-19)
Texas Southern (31-18) vs. No. 6 seed Louisiana-Lafayette* (44-8-1)
Norman Regional – May 16-18 at Norman, Oklahoma
No. 7 seed Oklahoma* (45-10) vs. Bryant (32-20)
Hofstra (33-13) vs. Texas A&M (35-20)
Knoxville Regional – May 16-18 at Knoxville, Tennessee
Lipscomb (39-13) vs. Virginia Tech (35-21)
Charleston Southern (27-31-1) vs. No. 10 seed Tennessee* (42-10)
Columbia Regional – May 16-18 at Columbia, Missouri
No. 15 seed Missouri* (41-16) vs. Bradley (27-30)
Kansas (33-21) vs. Nebraska (40-15)
Tuscaloosa Regional – May 17-19 at Tuscaloosa, Alabama
South Alabama (40-12) vs. South Carolina Upstate (45-7)
No. 2 seed Alabama* (45-11) vs. SIU Edwardsville (30-21)
CHAMPIONSHIP STRUCTURE: The championship will be three weekends of competition. Four teams will participate at each of 16 campus sites in a double-elimination tournament.
The committee held selections for the 2014 NCAA Division I Softball Championship May 9-11. The 64-team field was selected from 293 NCAA Division I institutions sponsoring softball. Of the 64 teams, 32 teams received an automatic qualification with the remaining best 32 teams were selected on an at-large basis.
Regionals for the NCAA Division I Softball Championship will be held May 15-18 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 22-25 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.
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 teams within the same conference were not paired during regional competition.
CHAMPIONSHIP NOTES: 2013 Highlights: Top-seeded Oklahoma won its third national championship, defeating Tennessee 4-0. National Player of the Year Keilani Ricketts homered and drove in four runs while Michelle Gascoigne pitched a three-hit shutout in Game 2 of the Women’s College World Series final.
