The 2023 NCAA Division I softball tournament was held from May 19 through June 8, 2023, as the final part of the 2023 NCAA Division I softball season. The tournament culminated with the 2023 Women's College World Series at USA Softball Hall of Fame Stadium in Oklahoma City.

Charlotte, Eastern Illinois, George Mason, North Carolina Central, Northern Colorado, Northern Kentucky, and Omaha made their NCAA Division I softball tournament debuts. Arizona failed to make the NCAA tournament for the first time since 1986, while Michigan failed to make the tournament for the first time since 1994.

Format A total of 64 teams will enter the tournament, with 32 of them receiving an automatic bid by either winning their conference's tournament or by finishing in first place in their conference. The remaining 32 bids will be at-large, with selections extended by the NCAA Selection Committee.

Bids The Big West and West Coast Conference bids were awarded to the regular-season champion. All other conferences had their automatic bid go to the conference tournament winner.

Automatic Conference School Best finish Last NCAA appearance America East Regionals(2002, 2019, 2021, 2022) 2022 American Super Regional(2022) 2022 ASUN Regionals(2015) 2015 ACC Florida State National Champion(2018) 2022 Atlantic 10 First appearance First appearance Big 12 Oklahoma National Champion(2000, 2013, 2016, 2017, 2021, 2022) 2022 Big East Regionals(2005) 2005 Big Sky First appearance First appearance Big South Regionals(1995, 2008, 2009, 2021, 2022) 2022 Big Ten WCWS(1984, 1985, 1986, 2006, 2007, 2022) 2022 Big West WCWS(1986, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993) 2021 CAA Super Regionals (2012) 2018 Conference USA Regionals (2000) 2018 Horizon First appearance First appearance Ivy League Regionals(1998, 2000, 2007, 2011, 2012, 2018, 2019) 2019 MAAC Regionals(2006, 2013, 2016) 2016 MAC Regionals(2005, 2009, 2012, 2016, 2021, 2022)2022 MEAC First appearance First appearance Missouri Valley WCWS (1970, 1977, 1978) 2021 Mountain West Regionals(2001, 2003, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2022) 2022 NEC Regionals(2008, 2012, 2016) 2016 Ohio Valley First appearance First appearance Pac-12 WCWS (1985, 1991, 1994)2017 Patriot Regionals(1996, 2002, 2003, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2014, 2016, 2018, 2019) 2021 SEC Tennessee WCWS Runner-Up(2007, 2013) 2022 Southern Regionals(1997, 2018, 2021) 2021 Southland McNeese Regionals (1994, 2005, 2010, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2021, 2022) 2022 SWAC Regionals(2018, 2022) 2022 Summit First appearance First appearance Sun Belt Louisiana Third Place(1993) 2022 WAC Regionals(2022) 2022 West Coast Regionals(2005, 2007) 2022

At-large Team Conference SEC SEC SEC Big 12 Pac-12 Big West Conference USA Clemson ACC ACC SEC SEC Big Ten SEC ASUN ACC SEC Big Ten SEC Big Ten ACC Big 12 SEC Pac-12 SEC Pac-12 Texas Big 12 SEC Texas State Sun Belt UCLA Pac-12 ACC Pac-12 American

By conference Conference Total Schools SEC12 Alabama, Arkansas, Auburn, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, LSU, Missouri, Ole Miss, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas A&M ACC6 Clemson, Duke, Florida State, Louisville, Notre Dame, Virginia Tech Pac-126 California, Oregon, Stanford, UCLA, Utah, Washington Big 124 Baylor, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Texas Big Ten4 Indiana, Minnesota, Nebraska, Northwestern American2 UCF, Wichita State ASUN2 Central Arkansas, Liberty Big West2 Cal State Fullerton, Long Beach State 2 Charlotte, Middle Tennessee Sun Belt2 Louisiana, Texas State America East1 UMBC Atlantic 101 George Mason Big East1 Seton Hall Big Sky1 Northern Colorado Big South1 Campbell CAA1 Hofstra Horizon1 Northern Kentucky Ivy League1 Harvard MAAC1 Marist Mid-American1 Miami (OH) MEAC1 North Carolina Central Missouri Valley1 Southern Illinois Mountain West1 San Diego State Northeast1 LIU Ohio Valley1 Eastern Illinois Patriot1 Boston University SoCon1 UNC Greensboro Southland1 McNeese Southwestern1 Prairie View A&M Summit1 Omaha WAC1 Grand Canyon West Coast1 Loyola Marymount

National seeds Sixteen national seeds were announced on the Selection Show, on Sunday, May 14 at 7 p.m. EDT on ESPN2. Teams in italics advanced to Super Regionals. Teams in bold advanced to the Women's College World Series.

1. Oklahoma

2. UCLA

3. Florida State

4. Tennessee

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

11.

12.

13. Texas

14.

15.

16. Clemson

Regionals and Super Regionals The Regionals took place May 19–21. The Super Regionals will take place May 25–28.

Norman Super Regional

Durham Super Regional

Tuscaloosa Super Regional

Knoxville Super Regional

Tallahassee Super Regional

Stillwater Super Regional

Seattle Super Regional

Salt Lake City Super Regional

Women's College World Series The Women's College World Series was held June 1 through June 9 in Oklahoma City.

Participants

School Conference Record (conference) Head coach WCWS appearances† (including 2023 WCWS) WCWS best finish†* WCWS W–L record† (excluding 2023 WCWS) SEC 44–20 (14–10) Patrick Murphy 14 (last: 2021) 1st(2012) 22–25 Florida State ACC 55–8 (22–2) Lonni Alameda 12(last: 2021) 1st(2018) 18–20 Oklahoma Big 12 56–1 (18–0) Patty Gasso 16(last: 2022) 1st(2000, 2013, 2016, 2017, 2021, 2022) 43–23 Big 12 46–14 (10–8) Kenny Gajewski 11(last: 2022) 3rd(1989, 1990, 1993, 1994, 2022) 15–20 Pac-12 44–13 (14–10) Jessica Allister 3(last: 2004) 4th(2001, 2004) 4–4 Tennessee SEC 49–8 (19–5) Karen Weekly 8 (last: 2015) 2nd(2007, 2013) 15–14 Pac-12 42–14 (15–9) Amy Hogue 4(last: 1994) 5th(1994) 1–6 Pac-12 43–13 (16–8) Heather Tarr 15(last: 2019) 1st(2009) 26–23

Bracket

Game times are based on the local time (CDT) in Oklahoma City

Game results Date Game Winning team Score Losing team Winning pitcher Losing pitcher Save Notes June 1 Game 1 Tennessee 10–5 Ashley Rogers (19–1) Jaala Torrence (9–3) Boxscore Game 2 Oklahoma 2–0 Jordy Bahl (19–1) – Boxscore Game 3 Florida State Kelly Maxwell (16–6) – Boxscore June 2 Game 4 4–1 Lindsay Lopez (14–3) Mariah Lopez (23–7) – Boxscore Game 5 Stanford 2–0 Alabama Alana Vawter (21–8) NiJaree Canady (4) Alabama eliminatedBoxscore Game 6 Utah Lexi Kilfoyl (16–5) Sydney Sandez (13–6) – Utah eliminatedBoxscore June 3 Game 7 Oklahoma Tennessee Jordy Bahl (20–1) Karlyn Pickens (9–7) – Boxscore Game 8 Florida State 3–1 Washington Kathryn Sandercock (28–3) Ruby Meylan (18–6) – Boxscore June 4 Game 9 Stanford 1–0 Washington NiJaree Canady (17–2) Ruby Meylan (18–7) – Washington eliminatedBoxscore Tennessee 3–1 Oklahoma State Ashley Rogers (20–1) Kelly Maxwell (16–7) – Oklahoma State eliminatedBoxscore June 5 Game 11 Oklahoma Stanford Jordy Bahl (21–1) NiJaree Canady (17–3) – Stanford eliminatedBoxscore Game 12 Florida State 5–1 Tennessee Makenna Reid (13–0) Payton Gottshall (16–2) Kathryn Sandercock (10) Tennessee eliminatedBoxscoreFinalsJune 7 Game 1 Oklahoma 5–0 Florida State Jordy Bahl (22–1) Mack Leonard (2–2) – Oklahoma 1–0June 8 Game 2 Oklahoma 3–1 Florida State Alex Storako (19–0) Jordy Bahl (4) Oklahoma wins WCWS

Finals Game 1

Game 2

All-tournament Team The following players were members of the Women's College World Series All-Tournament Team. Position Player School P Jordy Bahl (MOP) Oklahoma NiJaree Canady Stanford Kathryn Sandercock Florida State 2B Tiare Jennings Oklahoma 3B Zaida Puni Tennessee OF Rylie Boone Oklahoma Taylor Gindlesperger Stanford Kiki Milloy Tennessee Kaley Mudge Florida State C Michaela Edenfield Florida State Kinzie Hansen Oklahoma U Jayda Coleman Oklahoma

Record by conference Conference# of BidsRecordWin % Big 12 4 20–6 3 3 2 1 1 1 ACC 6 18–14 4 3 1 1 1 – Pac-12 6 23–14 5 4 3 1 – – SEC 12 33–26 10 3 2 1 – – Mountain West 1 4–2 1 1 – – – – Big Ten 4 9–8 3 1 – – – – Sun Belt 2 5–5 1 1 – – – – Conference USA 2 5–4 2 – – – – – Southland 1 3–2 1 – – – – – MAC 1 2–2 1 – – – – – ASUN 2 3–4 1 – – – – – American 2 2–4 – – – – – – Big South 1 1–2 – – – – – – Patriot 1 1–2 – – – – – – Summit 1 1–2 – – – – – – WAC 1 1–2 – – – – – – West Coast 1 1–2 – – – – – – Big West 2 1–4 – – – – – – America East 1 0–2 – – – – – – Atlantic 10 1 0–2 – – – – – – Big East 1 0–2 – – – – – – Big Sky 1 0–2 – – – – – – CAA 1 0–2 – – – – – – Horizon 1 0–2 – – – – – – Ivy League 1 0–2 – – – – – – MAAC 1 0–2 – – – – – – MEAC 1 0–2 – – – – – – Missouri Valley 1 0–2 – – – – – – NEC 1 0–2 – – – – – – Ohio Valley 1 0–2 – – – – – – SoCon 1 0–2 – – – – – – SWAC 1 0–2 – – – – – –

Media coverage Radio For the third consecutive year Westwood One provided nationwide radio coverage of every game in the Women's College World Series. Ryan Radtke and Leah Amico returned as two of the broadcasters. Chris Plank and Destinee Martinez worked select games, while Radtke and Amico called the Championship Series while Taylor Davis worked as a field reporter.

Television ESPN held exclusive rights to the tournament. The network aired games across ABC, ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, ESPN+, SEC Network, Longhorn Network, and ACC Network. For just the sixth time in the history of the women's softball tournament, ESPN covered every regional.

Broadcast assignments

Regionals Norman: Jenn Hildreth & Carol Bruggeman Los Angeles: Clay Matvick & Natasha Watley Tallahassee: Courtney Lyle & Danielle Lawrie Knoxville: Mike Couzens & Kayla Braud Tuscaloosa: Roy Philpott & Aleshia Ocasio Stillwater: Matt Schumaker & Erin Miller Seattle: Maura Sheldon & Nicole Mendes Durham: Angel Gray & Raine Wilson Super Regionals Norman: Eric Frede & Madison Shipman Tallahassee: Courtney Lyle & Danielle Lawrie Knoxville: Beth Mowins, Jessica Mendoza, Michele Smith, & Holly Rowe Tuscaloosa: Mike Couzens & Kayla Braud Women's College World Series Kevin Brown, Amanda Scarborough & Courtney Lyle (afternoons & late games) Beth Mowins, Jessica Mendoza, Michele Smith & Holly Rowe (primetime)

Regionals Stanford: Mark Neely & Amanda Scarborough Baton Rouge: Alex Perlman & Francesca Enea Fayetteville: Drew Carter & Jenny Dalton-Hill Evanston: Tyler Denning & Jennie Ritter Austin: Alex Loeb & Cat Osterman Athens: Chuckie Kempf & Brittany McKinney Salt Lake City: Kevin Fitzgerald & Kenzie Fowler Clemson: Eric Frede & Madison Shipman Super Regionals Stillwater: Kevin Brown & Amanda Scarborough Seattle: Mark Neely & Carol Bruggeman Durham: Pam Ward & Jenny Dalton-Hill Salt Lake City: Tiffany Greene & Erin Miller Women's College World Series Finals Beth Mowins, Jessica Mendoza, Michele Smith & Holly Rowe

References