Road to the WCWS
5/16/2011
INDIANAPOLIS – Arizona State University 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 Sun Devils, champions of the Pacific-10 Conference, are 50-6 and will play North Dakota State University, an automatic qualifier from the Summit League, May 20, in front of a home crowd in Tempe.
Thirty conferences were awarded automatic qualification, and the remaining 34 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 Big 12 Conference led all conferences with eight teams in the championship. The Southeastern Conference and Pac-10 placed seven in the championship while five teams from Conference USA were selected. California State University, Fresno, remains the only team to be selected to all 30 championships. Four teams are making their initial appearances in the tournament: Jackson State University, Jacksonville University, University of Memphis and New Mexico State University.
Only 10 schools have been crowned the NCAA Division I softball champion since the tournament started in 1982, and nine are in this year’s bracket.
DATES/SITES/PAIRINGS:
* Indicates host institution
Tempe Regional – May 20-22 at Tempe, Arizona
No. 1 seed Arizona St.* (50-6) vs. North Dakota St. (30-25)
San Diego St. (32-19) vs. Long Beach St. (37-16)
College Station Regional – May 20-22 at College Station, Texas
LSU (38-16) vs. Syracuse (44-11)
Sacred Heart (29-19) vs. No. 16 Texas A&M* (41-13)
Norman Regional – May 20-22 at Norman, Oklahoma
No. 9 seed Oklahoma* (37-16) vs. Iona (31-20)
Missouri St. (29-23) vs. Tulsa (43-13)
Tucson Regional – May 20-22 at Tucson, Arizona
Texas Tech (40-14) vs. New Mexico St. (43-15)
Harvard (36-14) vs. No. 8 Arizona* (40-16)
Columbia Regional – May 20-22 at Columbia, Missouri
No. 5 seed Missouri* (46-7) vs. Illinois St. (35-17)
DePaul (39-13) vs. Indiana (37-16)
Seattle Regional – May 19-21 at Seattle, Washington
Auburn (39-17) vs. BYU (38-16)
Portland St. (34-16) vs. No. 12 seed Washington* (34-14)
University Park Regional – May 20-22 at University Park, Pennsylvania
No. 13 seed Oregon (39-14) vs. Albany (NY) (28-21)
Fordham (41-17) vs. Penn St.* (27-22)
Gainesville Regional – May 20-22 at Gainesville, Florida
UCLA (33-17) vs. Jacksonville (43-14)
Bethune-Cookman (33-24) vs. No. 4 seed Florida* (47-9)
Austin Regional – May 20-22 at Austin, Texas
No. 3 seed Texas* (44-8) vs. Texas St. (33-23)
Houston (40-16) vs. La.-Lafayette (49-9)
Knoxville Regional – May 20-22 at Knoxville, Tennessee
Oklahoma St. (37-17) vs. Georgia Tech (44-10)
Liberty (30-28) vs. No. 14 seed Tennessee* (47-10)
College Park Regional – May 20-22 at College Park, Maryland
No. 11 seed Baylor (40-12) vs. Lehigh (33-21)
East Carolina (39-20) vs. Maryland* (39-17)
Athens Regional – May 20-22 at Athens, Georgia
Florida St. (30-26) vs. UAB (38-17)
Georgia St. (36-23) vs. No. 6 seed Georgia* (47-12)
Louisville Regional – May 20-22 at Louisville, Kentucky
No. 7 seed California (39-10) vs. Jacksonville St. (39-19)
Ill.-Chicago (25-22) vs. Louisville* (36-18)
Ann Arbor Regional – May 20-22 at Ann Arbor, Michigan
Notre Dame (45-9) vs. Kentucky (36-14)
Western Mich. (25-28) vs. No. 10 seed Michigan* (51-4)
Stanford Regional – May 20-22 at Stanford, California
No. 15 seed Stanford* (38-15) vs. Pacific (37-17)
Fresno St. (34-17) vs. Nebraska (39-12)
Tuscaloosa Regional – May 20-22 at Tuscaloosa, Alabama
Chattanooga (42-12) vs. Memphis (35-12)
Jackson St. (24-19) vs. No. 2 seed Alabama* (46-8)
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. Two regional sites (Ann Arbor and Tempe) will be televised in their entirety on the ESPN family of networks.
The regional winners will advance to super regional competition for a best-of-three series that will be conducted either May 26-27, May 27-28 or May 28-29 at eight campus sites. For the third consecutive year, all Super Regional games will be televised on the ESPN family of networks.
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 2-8 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. Thirty conferences have been granted automatic qualification for the 2011 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 – Albany (NY)
Atlantic Coast – Florida St.
Atlantic 10 – Fordham
Atlantic Sun – Jacksonville
Big East – Syracuse
Big South – Liberty
Big Ten – Michigan
Big 12 – Missouri
Big West – Pacific
Colonial Athletic – Georgia St.
Conference USA – East Carolina
Horizon League – Ill.-Chicago
Ivy Group – Harvard
Metro Atlantic – Iona
Mid-American – Western Mich.
Mid-Eastern – Bethune-Cookman
Missouri Valley – Missouri St.
Mountain West – BYU
Northeast – Sacred Heart
Ohio Valley – Jacksonville St.
Pacific-10 – Arizona St.
Pacific Coast – Portland St.
Patriot League – Lehigh
Southeastern – Tennessee
Southern – Chattanooga
Southland – Texas St.
Summit – North Dakota St.
Sun Belt – La.-Lafayette
Southwestern – Jackson St.
Western Athletic – New Mexico St.
WCWS TV COVERAGE:
Please go to www.ncaa.com/broadcast for the most up to date schedule. Game times and networks are subject to change.
CHAMPIONSHIP NOTES: 2010 Highlights: The University of California, Los Angeles captured its 11th National Championship title defeating the University of Arizona 6-5 (eight innings) and 15-9 in championships series games one and two, respectively. UCLA won the national title behind the efforts of Most Outstanding Player Megan Langenfeld and all-tournament team honoree Samantha Camuso and Andrea Harrison. UCLA completed the series with a record of 5-0.
For complete championship details log on to www.ncaa.com.