INDIANAPOLIS—Oklahoma earned 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 Sooners will host Morgan State, an automatic qualifier from the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference.
Thirty-one conferences were awarded automatic qualification, while the remaining 33 slots were filled with at-large selections to complete the bracket. The top 16 teams were seeded nationally and will play at campus sites beginning this Thursday. Regional assignments were determined by geographic proximity, with the exception that teams from the same conference were not placed in the same regional.
🖨Click or tap here to view the bracket in PDF form, suitable for printing
💻Click or tap here to view the interactive bracket
🗓Click or tap here for the full schedule/scoreboard for the 2021 tournament
Regionals will be held May 20-23 on 16 campus sites. At each campus site, a four-team, double-elimination tournament will be conducted, and the 16 winning teams advance to the super regionals.
Super regionals for the championship will be held May 27-30 on eight campus sites. At each site, two teams play in a best-of-three tournament format. The winners from each super regional advance to the NCAA® Women’s College World Series (WCWS) from June 3-9 at USA Softball Hall of Fame Stadium – OG&E Energy Field in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
Exclusive interviews: UCLA's Rachel Garcia | Oklahoma's Tiare Jennings
The Southeastern Conference led all leagues with 12 teams selected to the championship tournament. The Pac-12 Conference placed six teams in the championship tournament. Six teams are making their first appearance in the tournament: Clemson, Duke, George Washington, Morgan State, South Dakota State and Villanova. Only 13 schools have been crowned NCAA Division I softball champion since the tournament started in 1982 and 11 of the 13 will compete in this year’s bracket.
In 2019, UCLA swept Oklahoma for their 12th championship. The 2020 championship was not held due to the COVID-19 pandemic. ESPN will provide coverage from all 16 regional sites on one of the ESPN family of networks, which was announced during the NCAA Division I Softball Selection Show. ESPN will televise every game of the Super Regionals for the 15th consecutive year, 2020 notwithstanding, since 2007. This year also marks the 22nd year that ESPN will televise every game during the WCWS dating back to 2000. ESPN will announce additional telecast information this week.
Dates/Sites/Pairings:
*Indicates Host Institution
Norman Regional – May 21-23 at Norman, Oklahoma
No. 1 seed Oklahoma* (45-2) vs. Morgan St. (24-15)
Texas A&M (31-21) vs. Wichita St. (39-11-1)
Seattle Regional – May 21-23 at Seattle, Washington
Michigan (36-6) vs. Seattle U. (29-19)
Portland St. (15-24) vs. No. 16 seed Washington* (41-11)
Knoxville Regional – May 21-23 at Knoxville, Tennessee
No. 9 seed Tennessee* (41-13) vs. Eastern Ky. (35-15)
James Madison (34-1) vs. Liberty (42-13)
Columbia Regional – May 21-23 at Columbia, Missouri
Iowa St. (32-21) vs. UNI (31-18)
UIC (29-21) vs. No. 8 seed Missouri* (38-15)
Stillwater Regional – May 21-23 at Stillwater, Oklahoma
No. 5 seed Oklahoma St.* (42-9) vs. Campbell (27-17)
Boston U. (36-2) vs. Mississippi St. (33-23)
Austin Regional – May 21-23 at Austin, Texas
Oregon (37-15) vs. Texas St. (38-12)
Saint Francis (PA) (40-8) vs. No. 12 seed Texas* (39-11)
Athens Regional – May 21-23 at Athens, Georgia
No. 13 seed Duke (42-10) vs. UNC Greensboro (34-15)
Western Ky. (31-13) vs. Georgia* (29-21)
Gainesville Regional – May 21-23 at Gainesville, Florida
Baylor (27-21) vs. South Alabama (30-19)
South Fla. (29-17) vs. No. 4 seed Florida* (42-9)
Tuscaloosa Regional – May 21-23 at Tuscaloosa, Alabama
No. 3 seed Alabama* (45-7) vs. Alabama St. (19-27)
Troy (36-15) vs. Clemson (42-6)
Lexington Regional – May 21-23 at Lexington, Kentucky
Notre Dame (31-13) vs. Miami (OH) (46-8)
Northwestern (29-15) vs. No. 14 seed Kentucky* (39-13)
Tucson Regional – May 21-23 at Tucson, Arizona
No. 11 seed Arizona* (36-13) vs. UMBC (25-11)
Villanova (36-13) vs. Ole Miss (34-20)
Fayetteville Regional – May 21-23 at Fayetteville, Arkansas
Stanford (31-20) vs. South Dakota St. (42-6)
Manhattan (22-14) vs. No. 6 seed Arkansas* (40-9)
Baton Rouge Regional – May 21-23 at Baton Rouge, Louisiana
No. 7 seed LSU* (32-19) vs. McNeese (34-24)
George Washington (37-9) vs. Louisiana (44-10)
Tallahassee Regional – May 21-23 at Tallahassee, Florida
Auburn (27-22) vs. UCF (39-17-1)
Kennesaw St. (26-25) vs. No. 10 seed Florida St.* (39-10-1)
Tempe Regional – May 20-22 at Tempe, Arizona
No. 15 seed Arizona St.* (32-14) vs. Southern Ill. (37-14)
BYU (36-15) vs. Virginia Tech (33-13)
Los Angeles Regional – May 21-23 at Los Angeles, California
Minnesota (29-11) vs. Fresno St. (36-10)
Long Beach St. (30-9) vs. No. 2 seed UCLA* (41-4)
2021 NCAA Women's College World Series TV schedule
| Day | Date | Game | Time (EST)* | Network* |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thursday | 6/3 | 1 | Noon | ESPN |
| Thursday | 6/3 | 2 | 2:30 p.m. | ESPN |
| Thursday | 6/3 | 3 | 7 p.m. | ESPN |
| Thursday | 6/3 | 4 | 9:30 p.m. | ESPN |
| Friday | 6/4 | 5 | 7 p.m. | ESPNU |
| Friday | 6/4 | 6 | 9:30 p.m. | ESPNU |
| Saturday | 6/5 | 7 | Noon | ESPN |
| Saturday | 6/5 | 8 | 2:30 p.m. | ESPN |
| Saturday | 6/5 | 9 | 7 p.m. | ESPN |
| Saturday | 6/5 | 10 | 9:30 p.m. | ESPN |
| Sunday | 6/6 | 11 | 1 p.m. | ESPN |
| Sunday | 6/6 | 12 | 3:30 p.m. | ESPN |
| Sunday | 6/6 | 13 (if necessary) | 7 p.m. | ESPN2 |
| Sunday | 6/6 | 14 (if necessary) | 9:30 p.m. | ESPN2 |
| Monday | 6/7 | Championship Final Game 1 | 7:30 p.m. | ESPN |
| Tuesday | 6/8 | Championship Final Game 2 | 7:30 p.m. | ESPN |
| Wednesday | 6/9 | Championship Final Game 3 (if necessary) | 7 p.m. | ESPN |
