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 and seeds for the 2022 NCAA Division I Softball Championship.
Thirty-two conferences were awarded automatic qualification as conference champions, while the remaining 32 slots were filled with at-large selections to complete the bracket. The top 16 teams were seeded nationally and will host at campus sites beginning this Friday.
Regionals will be held May 20-22 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 26-29 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 2-9/10 at OGE Energy Field at the USA Softball Hall of Fame Complex in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
Grand Canyon, Murray State, North Texas and the University of North Carolina Wilmington are making their first appearance in the tournament.
This year’s championship will also see the tournament take place at four first-time hosts in Clemson, Duke, University of Central Florida and Virginia Tech.
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 looking to add another trophy to the collection.
In 2021, Oklahoma won its fifth national championship by defeating Florida State, 5-1, in the third game of the championship series. The Sooners became the first team in WCWS history to win six elimination games on the way to their third national title in the last five championships.
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 16th consecutive year, 2020 notwithstanding, since 2007. This year also marks the 23rd year that ESPN will televise every game during the WCWS dating back to 2000.
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DATES/SITES/PAIRINGS: *Indicates Host Institution
Automatic Qualification Berths
