NCAA Division I Softball Championship Bracket
INDIANAPOLIS -- UCLA was named the No. 1 seed in the NCAA Division I Softball Championship today when the NCAA Division I Softball Committee announced the 64-team field. The Bruins, champions of the Pac-10 Conference, are 43-7 and will open play against Missouri State University, May 19, in front of a home crowd in Los Angeles.
Twenty-nine conferences were awarded automatic qualification, and the remaining 35 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 geographical proximity, with the exception that teams from the same conference were not paired during regional competition, when possible.
The Pacific 10 led all conferences with seven teams in the championship, while the Big 12, Big Ten and SEC placed six teams. Fresno State remains the only team to be selected to all 25 championships. Eight teams are making their initial appearances in the tournament: North Carolina State, Youngstown State, Tulsa, Georgia Southern, Portland State, Southern Utah, Nevada and Marist.
Only eight schools have been crowned champion, all of which are in this year’s bracket.
DATES/SITES/PAIRINGS: * Indicates host institution
Los Angeles Regional - May 19-21 at Los Angeles, California
*No. 1 UCLA (43-7) vs. Missouri State (40-15)
Long Beach State (30-20) vs. San Diego State (32-13)
Gainesville Regional - May 19-21 at Gainesville, Florida
North Carolina (48-17) vs. South Florida (47-23)
Florida Atlantic (33-23) vs. *No. 16 Florida (42-23)
Ann Arbor Regional - May 19-21 at Ann Arbor, Michigan
*No. 9 Michigan (40-13) vs. Youngstown State (22-25)
Kent State (32-22) vs. Oklahoma (38-19-1)
Knoxville Regional - May 19-21 at Knoxville, Tennessee
Virginia Tech (38-19) vs. Louisville (42-8)
Tennessee Tech (50-13) vs. *No. 8 Tennessee (53-9)
Tuscaloosa Regional - May 19-21 at Tuscaloosa, Alabama
*No. 5 Alabama (49-9) vs. Mississippi Valley (23-28)
Florida A&M (39-23) vs. Georgia Tech (46-20)
Fresno Regional - May 19-21 at Fresno, California
Cal State Fullerton (36-22) vs. *Fresno State (35-17)
Tulsa (34-22) vs. No. 12 Stanford (38-15)
Amherst Regional - May 19-21 at Amherst, Massachusetts
No. 13 Texas A&M (33-17) vs. Lehigh (41-12)
Albany (New York) (36-11-1) vs. *Massachusetts (37-14)
Evanston Regional - May 19-21 at Evanston, Illinois
Notre Dame (38-19) vs. UC Santa Barbara (24-20)
Southern Illinois (34-11) vs. *No. 4 Northwestern (42-12)
Austin Regional - May 19-21 at Austin, Texas
*No. 3 Texas (49-7) vs.Texas-San Antonio (37-12)
Utah (38-19) vs. Indiana (29-23-1)
Provo Regional - May 18-20 at Provo, Utah
Kansas (34-24) vs. *Brigham Young (42-20)
Southern Utah (34-30) vs. No. 14 Washington (32-23)
Athens Regional - May 19-21 at Athens, Georgia
*No. 11 Georgia (51-13) vs. Georgia Southern (34-33)
Coastal Carolina (39-20) vs. Florida State (41-26)
Hempstead Regional - May 19-21 at Hempstead, New York
Penn State (37-15) vs.*Hofstra (36-18)
Long Island (34-21) vs. No. 6 Arizona State (46-13)
Corvallis Regional - May 19-21 at Corvallis, Oregon
*No. 7 Oregon State (38-13) vs. Nevada (33-31)
Portland State (37-18) vs. Baylor (36-20)
Iowa City Regional - May 19-21 at Iowa City, Iowa
Nebraska (42-10) vs. *Iowa (39-20)
Illinois State (37-14) vs. No. 10 California (44-12)
Baton Rouge Regional - May 19-21 at Baton Rouge, Louisiana
*No. 15 LSU (51-12) vs. Princeton (34-17)
Louisiana-Lafayette (48-10) vs. North Carolina State (48-19)
Tucson Regional - May 18-20 at Tucson, Arizona
Auburn (34-20) vs.Ohio State (38-21)
Marist (33-11) vs. *No. 2 Arizona (44-9)
CHAMPIONSHIP STRUCTURE:
The Division I championship provides for a field of 64 teams. The championship will be three weekends of competition. Four teams will participate at each of 16 regional sites in a double-elimination tournament. Sixteen teams were seeded and placed at one of the regional sites.
The regional winners will advance to super regional competition for a best-of-three series May 26-27 (Memorial Day Weekend) at eight campus sites.
The remaining eight teams will advance to the WCWS, an eight-team, double-elimination tournament. The championship final will be a best-of-three-series. The WCWS will be conducted June 1-7 at the ASA Hall of Fame Stadium in Oklahoma City.
SELECTION PROCESS:
The NCAA Division I Softball Committee selected teams from the following eight regions to participate in the championship: Central, East, Northeast, South, Mideast, Midwest, West and Pacific. Twenty-nine conferences have been granted automatic qualification for the 2006 championship.
SEEDING, SITES:
Teams were selected to the field of 64 teams. The top 16 teams were seeded in order, and the remaining teams were placed in regional brackets to create balanced competition and avoid conference match-ups, when possible.
CONFERENCES RECEIVING AUTOMATIC QUALIFICATION:
America East Conference – Albany (N.Y.)
Atlantic Coast Conference –North Carolina State
Atlantic-10 Conference – Massachusetts
Atlantic Sun Conference – Florida Atlantic
Big East Conference – TBD (Louisville or Notre Dame)
Big South Conference – Coastal Carolina
Big Ten Conference – Michigan
Big 12 Conference – Kansas
Big West Conference – Cal State Fullerton
Colonial Athletic Conference - Hofstra
Conference USA Conference – Tulsa
Horizon League Conference – Youngstown State
Ivy Group – Princeton
Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference – Marist
Mid-American Athletic Conference – Kent State
Mid-Continent Conference – Southern Utah
Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference – Florida A&M
Missouri Valley Conference – Missouri State
Mountain West Conference – Utah
Northeast Conference – Long Island
Ohio Valley Conference – Tennessee Tech
Pacific Coast Softball Conference – Portland State
Pacific-10 Conference – UCLA
Patriot League Conference – Lehigh
Southeastern Conference – Tennessee
Southern Conference – Georgia Southern
Southland Conference – Texas San Antonio
Southwestern Athletic Conference – Mississippi Valley State
Western Athletic Conference – Nevada
