May 12, 2003

2003 NCAA Softball Championship Site

DALLAS - Six Big 12 softball teams were selected to the NCAA Division I Softball Championship as the expanded 64-team field was released May 11.

As was announced last week, Texas and Nebraska will host eight-team regionals. Joining UT and NU are Missouri, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, and Texas A&M. Texas and Oklahoma are No. 1 seeds, while Nebraska, and Oklahoma State are No. 2 seeds. Texas A&M is a No. 3 seed and Missouri No. 5. All six conference teams are playing in different regionals. Tourney regions and seedings are below.

The six Big 12 teams selected marks the second most from the league in the eight year history of the conference. In 1999 there were seven teams selected. The next most was in 1997 when five Big 12 teams participated in the championship.

Last year Nebraska and Oklahoma became the sixth and seventh Big 12 teams to qualify for the Women's College World Series in the seven year history of the league and the first to go in consecutive seasons. In 2000 Oklahoma won its first women's NCAA title by winning the WCWS. It was the fourth NCAA title for a Big 12 school as Texas A&M won the 1982, 1983 and 1987 crowns. In 1999 the Big 12 had an all-time high seven teams participate in the NCAA tournament. In 1998 there were three teams which advanced to the WCWS - Nebraska, Oklahoma State, Texas.

From the May 11 NCAA release -- Eight teams will participate at each of eight regional sites in a double-elimination tournament. Eight teams will be seeded and each of the seeded teams will be placed at one of the regional sites. The regional winners advance to the Women's College World Series (WCWS), an eight-team, double-elimination tournament. (Note: The championship final is a single-game final.) Regionals will be conducted May 15-18. The WCWS will be conducted May 22-26 at the ASA Don E. Porter Hall of Fame Stadium in Oklahoma City. The NCAA Division I Women's Softball Committee selected teams from the following eight regions to participate in the championship: Central, East, Northeast, South, Mideast, Midwest, West and Pacific. Twenty-six conferences have been granted automatic qualification for the 2003 championship.

The dates, sites and pairings are as follows:

DATES/SITES/PAIRINGS (Brackets for each region in PDF Format):

Region One Bracket

Seed No. 1 - May 15-18 at Tucson, Arizona

No. 1 seed *Arizona (50-5)
No. 2 seed South Carolina (38-18)
No. 3 seed TEXAS A&M (35-20)
No. 4 seed Minnesota (35-18-1)
No. 5 seed Cal State Northridge (26-21)
No. 6 seed Boston College (33-20)
No. 7 seed Princeton (23-19-1)
No. 8 seed Colorado State (35-13)


Seed No. 2 - May 15-18 at Fresno, California

Region Two Bracket

No. 1 seed UCLA (45-6)
No. 2 seed Georgia (55-12)
No. 3 seed Michigan State (37-17)
No. 4 seed *Fresno State (33-20)
No. 5 seed Long Beach State (29-17)
No. 6 seed North Carolina (39-20-1)
No. 7 seed Long Island (29-19)
No. 8 seed Colgate (30-13)


Seed No. 3 - May 15-18 at Austin, Texas

Region Three Bracket

No. 1 seed *TEXAS (43-7)
No. 2 seed Northwestern (35-17)
No. 3 seed Arizona State (30-23)
No. 4 seed LSU (49-16)
No. 5 seed Hawaii (37-18)
No. 6 seed Southwest Texas State (43-16-1)
No. 7 seed Tennessee Tech (41-14)
No. 8 seed Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (31-22)


Seed No. 4 - May 15-18 at Gainesville, Florida

Region Four Bracket

No. 1 seed OKLAHOMA (39-12)
No. 2 seed Florida State (45-9)
No. 3 seed *Florida (40-23)
No. 4 seed South Florida (53-17)
No. 5 seed Florida Atlantic (42-26)
No. 6 seed Oregon State (32-29)
No. 7 seed Texas-Arlington (39-15)
No. 8 seed Bethune-Cookman (45-19)


Seed No. 5 - May 15-18 at Lincoln, Nebraska

Region Five Bracket

No. 1 seed Washington (40-14-1)
No. 2 seed *NEBRASKA (36-15)
No. 3 seed Iowa (40-13)
No. 4 seed Mississippi State (33-28)
No. 5 seed Florida International (35-25)
No. 6 seed Pacific (Cal.) (34-22)
No. 7 seed Hofstra (37-15)
No. 8 seed Creighton (25-22)


Seed No. 6 - May 15-18 at Fullerton, California

Region Six Bracket

No. 1 seed *Cal State Fullerton (39-13)
No. 2 seed OKLAHOMA STATE (36-13)
No. 3 seed Oregon (32-17)
No. 4 seed Louisiana-Lafayette (43-8)
No. 5 seed San Diego State (37-18)
No. 6 seed Penn State (30-21)
No. 7 seed Boston U. (33-21)
No. 8 seed Rider (24-23)


Seed No. 7 - May 15-18 at Ann Arbor, Michigan

Region Seven Bracket

No. 1 seed DePaul (46-5-1)
No. 2 seed California (41-18)
No. 3 seed *Michigan (40-14)
No. 4 seed Notre Dame (36-15)
No. 5 seed MISSOURI (29-18)
No. 6 seed Western Michigan (30-22)
No. 7 seed Oakland (33-23)
No. 8 seed Wright State (15-35)


Seed No. 8 - May 15-18 at Tuscaloosa, Alabama

Region Eight Bracket

No. 1 seed *Alabama (45-19)
No. 2 seed Stanford (40-24)
No. 3 seed Massachusetts (36-13)
No. 4 seed Illinois (38-15-1)
No. 5 seed Georgia Tech (35-23)
No. 6 seed Southern Illinois (36-12)
No. 7 seed Chattanooga (35-28)
No. 8 seed Southern U. (19-10)


*Host institution.