• Up to 84 Games, from 12 Campus Sites in Regional Round
• Debut of Bases Loaded for Regional Round
• All Eight Super Regionals and Entire Women’s College World Series Televised
• Defending National Champion and No. 1 Seed Florida Gators Host Regional

ESPN is the home of the 2015 NCAA Division I Softball Championship presented by Capital One beginning with record-setting Regional round coverage (May 15-17), continuing the Super Regionals (May 21-24) and concluding with the Women’s College World Series (May 28 – June 3) in Oklahoma City, Okla. The 2015 NCAA Softball Championship is the 15th consecutive year ESPN has televised the entire Women’s College World Series and the ninth consecutive year it has televised every game of the Super Regionals.

Record-Setting Regional Round Coverage

ESPN’s NCAA Softball Championship Regional round coverage will total as many as 84 games from 12 campus sites – the most sites ESPN has ever originated from – across ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, SEC Network, ESPN3 and SEC Network +. The 2014 National Champion and No. 1 overall seed Florida Gators highlight the first weekend of the championship as the Gators host the Gainesville Regional.  Overall, ESPN’s Regional round coverage will feature 10 of the top 11 seeds including No. 3 Michigan (Ann Arbor Regional), No. 4 Auburn (Auburn Regional), No. 5 LSU (Baton Rouge Regional), No. 6 Alabama (Tuscaloosa Regional), No. 7 UCLA (Los Angeles Regional), No. 8 Tennessee (Knoxville Regional) , No. 9 Florida State (Tallahassee Regional), No. 10 Missouri (Columbia Regional), and No. 11 Oklahoma (Norman Regional). Additionally, No. 13 Louisiana-Lafayette(Lafayette Regional), and No. 14 Georgia (Athens Regional) will also be covered.

Format: ESPN will carry every game (maximum of seven games) from the 12 regionals. Each regional is a four-team, double-elimination tournament, concluding with one team advancing to the Super Regionals. A full schedule is provided below.

Additional Regional Round Highlights

Debut of Bases Loaded

ESPN’s 2015 NCAA Softball Championship Regional Round coverage will be supplemented by Bases Loaded for the first time, a concept which has been utilized during the NCAA Division I Baseball Championship. Bases Loaded will provide look-ins to multiple live games throughout the day while also recapping the entire tournament up to that moment. Matt Schick and Brendan Fitzgerald will host and Garland Cooper will provide the analysis.

Bases Loaded Programming Schedule

espnW.com

espnW will have wide-ranging coverage of the entire 2015 Softball Championship, led by its softball index. Other highlights include:

• Comprehensive Recaps: Graham Hays will provide daily recaps in a “five things you should know” format.
• Tourney Snapshots: Behind-the-scenes video and photos from teams and student athletes participating in the championship. Fans can submit their photos by tagging them #RoadtoWCWS in the Regionals and Super Regionals and then #WCWS during the Women’s College World Series.
• · The Life and Times of an NCAA Softball Player: Kayla Lombardo, a senior third baseman for the Fordham Rams, has been documenting her 2015 season titled The Life and Times of an NCAA Softball Player. With Lombardo and Rams qualifying for the Championship, she will continue her work, providing reaction to the Rams’ journey to the WCWS.

Social Media

• · @ESPNU, @espnW, and @NCAASoftball will provide news, game updates, photos and videos throughout the championship. Fans can join the conversation by tagging their tweets with #d1softball in the Regionals and Super Regionals and then #WCWS during the Women’s College World Series.

ESPN Analysts
ESPN’s softball analysts are accomplished former college, Olympic and professional softball players:

• Carol Bruggeman – Norman Regional
  • · College: Iowa
  • · Honors:  As a Division I coach at Michigan, Purdue, and Louisville, achieved more than 700 combined wins; All Big-Ten and All-Mideast Region as a player, inducted into the Iowa Softball Association Hall of Fame (1997
  • Jenny Dalton-Hill– Gainesville Regional
    • College: Arizona
    • Honors: National Player of the Year (1996) and Women’s College World Series MVP (’96) Four-time National Champion, winning three as a player (1993, ’94, and ’96) and one as an assistant coach, also with Arizona (1997)
    • Amanda Freed– Knoxville Regional
      • College:  UCLA
      • Honors: National Champion (1999), pitched in the three other WCWS (2000, ’01, ’02, ’03), member of gold medal-winning team at the 2004 Athens Olympics
    • Danielle Lawrie – Los Angeles Regional
      • · College: Washington
      • · Honors: National Champion (2009), All-American, and played for Canadian National Team at the 2008 Beijing Olympics
    • Cheri Kempf – Lafayette Regional
      • · College: Missouri Western State
      • · Honors: National Champion , National MVP and played on USA National Team that won the World Cup (1992)
    • Jessica Mendoza– Baton Rouge Regional
      • College: Stanford
      • Honors: Four-time All-American (1999, 2000, ’01, ’02), member of gold medal-winning team at the 2004 Athens Olympics and silver medal winning team  at 2008 Beijing Olympics
    • Leah O’Brien-Amico– Tuscaloosa Regional
      • College:Arizona
      • Honors: Won three national championships (1993, ’94,  ’97), member of goal medal-winning teams at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, 2000 Sydney Olympics and 2004 Athens Olympics
    • Jennie Ritter – Auburn Regional
      • · College: Michigan
      • · Honors: National Championship (2005), played for USA National Team (2007) in the World Cup  and Pan American games
    • Amanda Scarborough– Ann Arbor Regional
      • College:Texas A&M
      • Honors: Two-time All-American (2005, ’07). Only player in Big 12 history to receive Freshman of the Year and Player of Year in same season (2005), played in two WCWS (2007, ’08)
    • Michele Smith– Baton Rouge Regional
      • College: Oklahoma State
      • Honors:  Two time All-American, two time Olympic Gold Medalist (1996, ’00)  and eight time Japan Pro League MVP

2015 NCAA Division I Softball Championship Field

The 2015 NCAA Division I Softball Championship bracket was unveiled during ESPNU’s NCAA Softball Championship Selection Show presented by Capital Oneon Sunday, May 10.  The SEC received the most bids (11), followed by the ACC and Pac-12 (7), Big 12 and Big Ten (4), Colonial, Conference USA, Mountain West and Sun Belt (2). Twenty three other conferences each received one bid.  Additionally, seven teams are making their first appearance in the tournament: Binghamton University, University of Central Arkansas, Fairfield University, Indiana State University, University of Pittsburgh, St. John’s (NY) University, and Weber State University. The complete 64-team bracket can be seen here.

ESPN’s 2015 NCAA Division I Softball Television Schedule

Regional Round (May 15 – May 17)

Please Note: Networks are likely to change throughout the weekend based on if necessary games. For the latest information, please check espnW’sschedule and results page

Schedule below is set up by Regionals. For a day-by-day schedule, click here

Ann Arbor Regional

Athens Regional

Auburn Regional

-- Courtesy of ESPN