The 2018 NCAA Division I softball tournament was held from May 18 through June 6, 2018 as the final part of the 2018 NCAA Division I softball season. Thirty-two teams were awarded automatic bids as champions of their conferences, and the remaining 32 were selected at-large by the NCAA Division I softball selection committee. The tournament culminated with eight teams playing in the 2018 Women's College World Series at ASA Hall of Fame Stadium in Oklahoma City. This was the first year since the 2010 Women's College World Series that neither the Florida Gators nor the Oklahoma Sooners made the Championship Series. The Florida State Seminoles played in their first Women's College World Series Championship Series and became the first ACC team to make the Championship Series. The Washington Huskies made their fourth appearance in the Championship Series.
Automatic bids The Big West, Mountain West, Pac-12, and West Coast Conference bids were awarded to the regular-season champion. All other conferences have the automatic bid go to the conference tournament winner. Conference School Best finish Reference America East Albany Regionals(2005, 2006, 2007, 2011, 2014, 2017) American Tulsa Regionals(2006, 2008, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2016, 2017) ACC Florida State WCWS(1987, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 2002, 2004, 2014, 2016) A-10 Fordham Regionals(2010, 2011, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017) ASUN Kennesaw State 1st Appearance Big 12 Oklahoma 1st(2000, 2013, 2016, 2017) Big East DePaul WCWS (1999, 2000, 2005, 2007) Big Sky Sacramento State Regionals(1993, 1995, 2008) Big South Liberty Regionals(2002, 2011) Big Ten Minnesota WCWS (1976, 1978) Big West Cal State Fullerton 1st (1986) Colonial Hofstra Super Regionals (2012) Conference USA Middle Tennessee Regionals (2000) Horizon League UIC WCWS(1994) Ivy League Harvard Regionals(2007, 2011, 2012) MAC Ohio Regionals(2014) MAAC Monmouth 1st Appearance MEAC Bethune–Cookman Super Regionals(2005) MVC Drake Regionals(2008) Mountain West Boise State 1st Appearance Northeastern Saint Francis (PA) Regionals (2017) OVC Jacksonville State Super Regionals (2009) Pac-12 Oregon 3rd(2014, 2017) Patriot League Boston University Regionals (1996, 2002, 2003, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2014, 2016) SEC Florida 1st (2014, 2015) SoCon UNCG Regionals (1997) Southland McNeese State Regionals (1994, 2005, 2010, 2016, 2017) SWAC Prairie View A&M 1st Appearance Summit League North Dakota State Super Regionals(2009) Sun Belt Texas State Regionals(1999, 2001, 2003, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2016, 2017) WAC New Mexico State Regionals (2011, 2015, 2017) WCC BYU Super Regionals (2010)
National seeds 16 National Seeds were announced on the Selection Show Sunday, May 13 at 10 p.m. EDT on ESPN2. The 16 national seeds host the Regionals. Teams in italics advanced to Super Regionals. Teams in bold advance to Women's College World Series.
1. (47–7)
2. (50–8)
3. UCLA (50–4)
4. (50–3)
5. Washington (44–8)
6. Florida State (47–10)
7. (43–11)
8. (43–11)
9. (45–14)
10. (45–12)
11. (41–14)
12. Alabama (33–18)
13. (39–15)
14. (40–14)
15. (40–16)
16. (31–19)
Regionals and Super Regionals The Regionals took place May 17–20, 2018. One regional- Eugene, Oregon, took place May 17–19, 2018, because of BYU's no-Sunday-play policy; all other regionals occurred May 18–20, 2018. The Super Regionals took place from May 24–27, 2018.
Eugene Super Regional
Tempe Super Regional
Seattle Super Regional
Norman Super Regional
Los Angeles Super Regional
Tallahassee Super Regional
Athens Super Regional
Gainesville Super Regional
Women's College World Series The Women's College World Series was held May 31 through June 6, 2018, in Oklahoma City.
Participants School Conference Record (conference) Head coach WCWS appearances† (including 2018 WCWS) WCWS best finish†* WCWS W–L record† (excluding 2018 WCWS) Pac-12 48–11 (16–8) Trisha Ford 12 (last: 2013) 1st (2008, 2011) 17–16 SEC 55–9 (20–4) Tim Walton 9(last: 2017) 1st(2014, 2015) 25–14 Florida State ACC 52–11 (21–3) Lonni Alameda 10(last: 2016) 3rd(2002, 2016) 8–17 SEC 48–11 (16–8) Lu Harris-Champer 4(last: 2016) 3rd(2009, 2010) 5–6 Big 12 55–3 (18–0) Patty Gasso 12(last: 2017) 1st(2000, 2013, 2016, 2017) 27-15 Pac-12 52–8 (21–3) Mike White 6(last: 2017) 3rd(2014, 2017) 6–10 UCLA Pac-12 55–5 (20–4) Kelly Inouye-Perez 28(last: 2017) 1st(1982, 1984, 1985, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1992, 1995*, 1999, 2003, 2004, 2010) 96–34 Washington Pac-12 49–8 (15–8) Heather Tarr 13(last: 2017) 1st(2009) 21–19 † = From NCAA Division I Softball Championship Results
Bracket
All-tournament Team The following players were members of the Women's College World Series All-Tournament Team. Position Player School P Rachel Garcia UCLA Paige Parker Oklahoma Gabbie Plain Washington C Taylor Pack UCLA Anna Shelnutt Florida State 2B Sydney Sherrill Florida State 3B & Jessie Warren (MOP) Florida State SS Sis Bates Washington OF Bubba Nickles UCLA Trysten Melhart Washington U Jocelyn Alo Oklahoma Meghan King Florida State Elizabeth Mason Florida State
Championship Game
School Top Batter Stats. Florida State Seminoles Elizabeth Mason (DP) 2-3 3RBIs HR K Washington Huskies Noelle Hee (DP) 1-2 RBI
School Pitcher IP H R ER BB SO AB BF Florida State Seminoles Meghan King (W) 7.0 5 3 1 0 4 25 28 Washington Huskies Taran Alvelo (L) 3.1 7 7 6 1 4 16 18 Washington Huskies Gabbie Plain 2.2 2 1 1 2 1 10 11
Schedule GameTime*Matchup#Television Attendance Thursday, May 31 1 11:00 a.m. No. 1 Oregon vs. No. 8 Arizona State ESPN 8,561 2 1:30 p.m. No. 4 Oklahoma vs. No. 5 Washington 3 6:00 p.m. No. 2 Florida vs. No. 7 Georgia ESPN2 8,472 4 8:30 p.m. No. 3 UCLA vs. No. 6 Florida State Friday, June 1 5 6:00 p.m. No. 1 Oregon vs. No. 5 Washington ESPN 9,311 6 8:30 p.m. No. 3 UCLA vs No. 2 Florida Saturday, June 2 7 11:00 a.m. No. 8 Arizona State vs. No. 4 Oklahoma ESPN 8,728 8 1:30 p.m. No. 6 Florida State vs. No. 7 Georgia 9 6:00 p.m. No. 2 Florida vs. No. 4 Oklahoma 8,728 10 8:30 p.m. No. 1 Oregon vs. No. 6 Florida State Sunday, June 3 11 12:00 p.m. No. 5 Washington vs. No. 4 Oklahoma ESPN 8,932 12 2:30 p.m. No. 3 UCLA vs. No. 6 Florida State 13* 6:00 p.m.* No. 3 UCLA vs. No. 6 Florida State ESPN2 6,903 14* 8:30 p.m.* Not Necessary Monday, June 4 Finals, G1 6:00 p.m. No. 5 Washington vs. No. 6 Florida State ESPN 8,152 Tuesday, June 5 Finals, G2 7:00 p.m. No. 5 Washington vs. No. 6 Florida State ESPN 8,123 Wednesday, June 6* Finals, G3* 7:00 p.m. ESPN – *Game times in CDT. # – Rankings denote tournament seed.* = if necessary
Record by conference Conference# of BidsRecordWin % ACC 2 11–4 Pac-12 7 33–13 Big 12 4 11–8 SEC 13 43–28 Big Ten 5 8–10 American 4 5–8 Big West 2 3–4 Sun Belt 2 4–4 Big South 1 2–2 MAC 1 2–2 Missouri Valley 1 2–2 Ohio Valley 1 2–2 CAA 2 2–4 Other 19 5–38 The columns RF, SR, WS, NS, F, and NC respectively stand for the Regional Finals, Super Regionals, College World Series Teams, National Semi-Finals, Finals, and National Champion.
Media coverage
Radio Westwood One provided nationwide radio coverage of the championship series. It was streamed online at westwoodsports.com, through TuneIn, and on SiriusXM. John Sadak made his softball radio debut and joined returning analyst Leah Amico for Westwood One.
Television ESPN holds exclusive rights to the tournament. They aired games across ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, SEC Network, and ESPN3. For the second time in the history of the women's softball tournament ESPN covered every regional.
Broadcast assignments
Regionals Eugene: Ted Enberg & Kenzie Fowler Lexington: Courtney Lyle & Jenny Dalton-Hill Columbia: Brad Muller & Dr. Megan Buning Tempe: Tiffany Greene & Amanda Scarborough Seattle: Eric Collins & Michele Smith Tuscaloosa: Melissa Lee & Leigh Dakich Fayetteville: Eric Frede & Jennie Ritter Norman: Pam Ward & Carol Bruggeman Super Regionals Eugene: Mark Neely & Danielle Lawrie Tempe: Courtney Lyle & Jenny Dalton-Hill Seattle: Eric Frede & Jennie Ritter Norman: Pam Ward & Carol Bruggeman Women's College World Series Adam Amin, Amanda Scarborough, & Laura Rutledge (afternoons, early Fri) Beth Mowins, Jessica Mendoza (minus Sunday), Michele Smith, & Holly Rowe (evenings minus early Fri)
Regionals Los Angeles: Trey Bender & Leah Amico Tucson: Mark Neely & Danielle Lawrie Baton Rouge: Lyn Rollins & Yvette Girouard Tallahassee: Cara Capuano & Cheri Kempf Athens: Alex Loeb & Megan Willis Knoxville: Alex Perlman & Francesca Enea College Station: Tyler Denning & Amanda Freed Gainesville: Kevin Brown & Erin Miller Super Regionals Los Angeles: Beth Mowins, Jessica Mendoza, Michele Smith, & Holly Rowe Tallahassee: Kevin Brown & Erin Miller Athens: Alex Loeb & Megan Willis Gainesville: Tiffany Greene & Amanda Scarborough Women's College World Series Finals Beth Mowins, Jessica Mendoza, Michele Smith, & Holly Rowe (tv) Adam Amin, Amanda Scarborough, Kayla Braud, & Laura Rutledge (ESPN3 Second Screen Experience)
References