All but three of the national seeds advanced one step closer to the 2006 Women’s College World Series as the opening round of the NCAA Division I Softball Championship was decided and super regional pairings were finalized Sunday.
Top seed UCLA advanced over the weekend, and will host South Florida, who won the Gainesville regional, beginning Thursday. The Bruins were one of seven Pac-10 squads to win regional titles. The other national seeds to go down were No. 13 Texas A&M in the Amherst regional, and 11th-seeded Georgia, who fell in its own regional to Florida State.
The Seminoles will travel to Tempe, Ariz., to challenge Arizona State, while Massachusetts will advance to take on fourth-seeded Northwestern.
Tennessee emerged from the first round and will face Michigan, who eliminated the Lady Vols en route to the 2005 national title, in Knoxville. The Lady Vols were one of three SEC teams winning opening-round regional action, as Alabama will host Stanford and LSU will travel to second seed Arizona.
A pair of conference foes, California and Oregon State, will battle for a trip to Oklahoma City in Corvallis, while Washington will travel to Austin to take on third seed Texas in the best-of-three format.