64 Schools Competing in NCAA Division I Softball Tournament

NCAA Division I softball tournament takes the field this weekend in the opening round of 64 schools on a mission to make it to Oklahoma City

Florida is top seed, Oklahoma defending champion, the SEC with a record 13 teams, the Super Regions the next stop for the final 16 schools biding for the World Series  

By Arnie Leshin

The road to Oklahoma City makes its initial pitch today.

The 64-school field in Division I has only the Salt Lake City Regional on the Thursday schedule. It will be Mississippi State (36-20) against BYU (44-11) in the opener, and host Utah (33-14), the 11^th seed, versus Fordham (45-15).

Friday, the slate has a full round of regionals. It’s a double-elimination, with all winners advancing to the Super Regionals for a best-of-three, and the surviving eight making its way to the college World Series at the ASA Hall of Fame Stadium also known as OGE Energy Field.

Here are some of the tournament facts to look into.

Minnesota (54-3) has the best record in the country, but did not receive a national seed. The Gophers should be sky-high at the Tuscaloosa Region hosted by 16^th seed Alabama (42-16). The Crimson Tide leads the nation in home attendance with an average of 2,555 this season.

If Minnesota can win before this kind of fan support, it could be matched up with top-seeded Florida (50-6), which is the only team with a better ERA than the Gophers.

Oklahoma, the defending champion and not too happy with its 10^th seed, is going for its fourth national championship.

In regard to toughest regions, the one in Salt Lake City stands out, with all four of its teams owning a top-45 RPI (runs per inning). The easiest region could be the one at College Station hosted by 9^th seeded Texas A & M (42-10), with the three other schools all from Texas and Texas Southern (25-19) with the lowest RIP in the entire field.

The SEC is the first conference to get all of its schools with softball programs into the NCAA tournament since 2007. Its 13 teams in the field breaks the NCAA record of 11 teams, which was also held by the SEC in 2013-14-15-16.

Despite losing in its SEC tournament opener to Mississippi, the Gators remain the top seed for the fifth time since seeding began in 2005.

Then there’s 2^nd seeded Arizona with Katiyana Mauga able to clout 22 home runs and drive in 89 runs in her career. She is one RBI away from the 90 knocked in by UCLA’s Stacey Nuveman, and six shy of the 95 homers hit by Oklahoma’s Lauren Chamberlain from 2012-15.

Teams from seven states make up 28 of the 64 in the field. A team from of these states has won the national title in each of the last five years, and six of the last seven.

California and Texas lead the way with five each in the field.

There are four apiece from Florida, Illinois and Louisiana, and Alabama and Oklahoma each have three. The remaining schools come from 26 different states.

The PAC 12 has won 23 softball championships, the most of any conference, but hasn’t had a winner since Arizona State in 2011, its longest draught ever. Last year, the PAC 12 did not win a tournament game for the first time.

Florida sophomore Kelly Barnhill has the land’s best ERA of .033. Four of her seven earned runs this season were in her last two starts.

These DI games can be viewed on ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN3, and ESPNU.

Division II softball is already in its Super Regionals of 16 schools. Play began Thursday at eight different sites, and is best-of-three.

West Chester (47-11) hosts West Virginia Wesleyan (47-7) in the Atlantic Region, Angelo State (55-5) hosts Texas Woman’s (37-20) in the South Central Region and Humboldt State (41-3) hosts the West Region against Dixie State (42-12).

In the Central Region, Harding (54-6) is hosting Minnesota State (54-6), in the Midwest Region, it’s Southern Indiana (44-12) versus Wayne State (40-14), in the East Region, the host is Adelphi (38-13-1) and it plays Molloy (35-16).

And in the South Region, it’s West Florida (43-13) playing host to Lee (36-18), and in the Southeast Region, it is North Georgia (48-11) home to Armstrong (34-12).

In early games, West Virginia Wesleyan edged West Chester, Molloy nipped Adelphi, 4-3, Southern Indiana getting past Wayne State, 3-2,

and Armstrong defeating North Georgia, 6-2, in nine innings.