Breaking news: NCAA Regional To Be Hosted By Alabama Softball
The NCAA Division I Softball Committee announced on Sunday that Alabama softball will host the Tuscaloosa Regional at Rhoads Stadium in the NCAA Tournament, as was expected but nice to have confirmed. Alabama is ranked No. 14 in the 64-team field.
The South Carolina Upstate (30-21), Clemson (34-17), and Southeastern Louisiana (45-13) teams are partnered with Coach Patrick Murphy’s Crimson Tide (33-17).
Three teams are participating in the tournament for the first time, including Southeastern Louisiana.
Double elimination is used in regional competition for on-campus site play. The competition is set to start on Friday and run through Sunday. Super Regional play will take place on eight campus locations from May 23–26 for the 16 victorious teams. Two teams compete in a best-two-of-three series at each site.
The Women’s College World Series will take place at Devon Park in Oklahoma City from May 30-June 6/7, for which the winners of each Super Regional qualify.
As the head coach of Alabama for 26 seasons, Murphy has guided the team to 24 NCAA Tournament trips (1999–2023; there was no tournament in 2020), 17 Super Regional berths, 14 WCWS bids, and a 2012 national championship.
Alabama defeated Oklahoma 5-4 on June 7, 2012, to win the first-ever national championship in SEC history.
The Southeastern Conference has the most selections of any conference, with all 13 of its softball teams—Vanderbilt does not play—being chosen for regional play. All thirteen SEC programs have been selected this time around.
In addition to Alabama, the following SEC teams will host regionals:
LSU, Texas A&M, Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, Arkansas, and Missouri.
Furthermore, Oklahoma, which is also joining the SEC this year, is the No. 2 overall seed, while Texas, the newest SEC member, gets the overall No. 1 seed.
The whole NCAA field:
Austin Regional – Austin, Texas
No. 1 seed Texas* (47-7) vs. Siena (33-20)
Northwestern (33-11) vs. Saint Francis (Pennsylvania) (40-12)
Bryan-College Station Regional – Bryan-College Station, Texas
No. 16 seed Texas A&M* (40-13) vs. University at Albany (33-12)
Texas State (45-13) vs. Penn State (34-18)
Baton Rouge Regional – Baton Rouge, Louisiana
No. 9 seed LSU* (40-15) vs. Jackson State (33-17)
California (36-17) vs. Southern Illinois (42-9)
Stanford Regional – Stanford, California
No. 8 seed Stanford* (43-13) vs. Saint Mary’s (California) (30-22)
Mississippi State (33-18) vs. Cal State Fullerton (36-17)
Stillwater Regional – Stillwater, Oklahoma
No. 5 seed Oklahoma State* (44-10) vs. Northern Colorado (27- 24)
Kentucky (30-22) vs. Michigan (41-16)
Fayetteville Regional – Fayetteville, Arkansas
No. 12 seed Arkansas* (36-16) vs. Southeast Missouri State (28- 24)
Arizona (34-16-1) vs. Villanova (31-22)
Lafayette Regional – Lafayette, Louisiana
No. 13 seed University of Louisiana at Lafayette* (42-17) vs. Princeton (29-16)
Baylor (32-20) vs. Ole Miss (31-25)
Gainesville Regional – Gainesville, Florida
No. 4 seed Florida* (46-12) vs. Florida Gulf Coast (37-19)
South Alabama (32-18-1) vs. Florida Atlantic (41-14)
Knoxville Regional – Knoxville, Tennessee
No. 3 seed Tennessee* (40-10) vs. Dayton (33-19)
Virginia (32-18) vs. Miami (Ohio) (48-7)
Tuscaloosa Regional – Tuscaloosa, Alabama
No. 14 seed Alabama* (33-17) vs. University of South Carolina Upstate (30-21)
Clemson (34-17) vs. Southeastern Louisiana (45-13)
Athens Regional – Athens, Georgia
No. 11 seed Georgia* (39-16) vs. University of North Carolina Wilmington (33-21)
Charlotte (38-16) vs. Liberty (36-23)
Los Angeles Regional – Los Angeles, California
No. 6 seed UCLA* (37-10) vs. Grand Canyon (48-11)
Virginia Tech (39-12-1) vs. San Diego State (31-18)
Columbia Regional – Columbia, Missouri
No. 7 seed Missouri* (43-15) vs. Omaha (41-13)
Washington (31-13) vs. Indiana (40-18)
Durham Regional – Durham, North Carolina
No. 10 seed Duke* (47-6) vs. Morgan State (35-18)
South Carolina (34-22) vs. Utah (34-20)
Tallahassee Regional – Tallahassee, Florida
No. 15 seed Florida State* (43-14) vs. Chattanooga (42-14)
Auburn (27-19-1) vs. University of Central Florida (30-23)
Norman Regional – Norman, Oklahoma
No. 2 seed Oklahoma* (49-6) vs. Cleveland State (22-24)
Oregon (28-19) vs. Boston University (52-4-1)
