The 2022 NCAA Division I softball tournament was held from May 20 through June 9, 2022, as the final part of the

2022 NCAA Division I softball season The 2022 NCAA Division I softball season, part of college softball in the United States organized by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the Division I (NCAA), Division I level, began in February 2022. The season progressed th ...

. The tournament culminated with the 2022

Women's College World Series The Women's College World Series (WCWS) is the final portion of the NCAA Division I softball tournament for college softball in the United States and is held annually in Oklahoma City, OK. The event is held at Devon Park (stadium), Devon Park loca ...

at USA Softball Hall of Fame Stadium in

Oklahoma City Oklahoma City (), officially the City of Oklahoma City, and often shortened to OKC, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Oklahoma, most populous city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The county seat ...

Format

A total of 64 teams entered the tournament, with 32 of them receiving an automatic bid by either winning their

conference A conference is a meeting, often lasting a few days, which is organized on a particular subject, or to bring together people who have a common interest. Conferences can be used as a form of group decision-making, although discussion, not always d ...

's tournament or by finishing in first place in their conference. The remaining 32 bids were issued at-large, with selections extended by the NCAA Selection Committee.

Bids

The Big West, Mountain West, Pac-12 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

At-large

By conference

National seeds

16 National Seeds were announced on the Selection Show, on Sunday, May 15 at 7 p.m. EDT on

ESPN2 ESPN2 is an American multinational pay television network owned by ESPN Inc., a joint venture between the Walt Disney Company (which owns a controlling 80% stake) and Hearst Communications (which owns the remaining 20%). ESPN2 was initially ...

. Teams in italics advanced to Super Regionals. Teams in bold advanced to the

. 1.

Oklahoma Oklahoma ( ; Choctaw language, Choctaw: , ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Texas to the south and west, Kansas to the north, Missouri to the northea ...

2.
3. '
4. '
5.

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school then known as the southern branch of the C ...

6.
7.
8. '' Arizona State''
9.
10. '' Clemson''
11.
12. '
13. Washington
14.
15.
16. '

Regionals and Super Regionals

The Regionals took place May 20–22. The Super Regionals took place May 26–29.

Norman Super Regional

Tempe Super Regional

Los Angeles Super Regional

Fayetteville Super Regional

Blacksburg Super Regional

Stanford Super Regional

Played at Boyd & Jill Smith Family Stadium in

Stanford, California Stanford is a census-designated place (CDP) in the northwest corner of Santa Clara County, California, United States. It is the home of Stanford University, after which it was named. The CDP's population was 21,150 at the United States Census, ...

Stillwater Super Regional

Starkville Super Regional

Played at Nusz Park in

Starkville, Mississippi Starkville is a city in and the county seat of Oktibbeha County, Mississippi, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, Starkville's population is 24,360, making it the 16th-most populated city in Mississippi. Starkville is the largest ...

Women's College World Series

The Women's College World Series was held June 2 through June 9 in Oklahoma City.

Participants

Bracket

Game results

Finals

All-tournament Team

The following players were members of the Women's College World Series All-Tournament Team.

Record by conference

Media coverage

Radio

For the second consecutive year

Westwood One Westwood One, Inc. is an American radio network owned by Cumulus Media. The company syndicates talk, music, and sports programming. The company takes its name from an earlier network also named Westwood One, a company founded in 1976. The co ...

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.

Television

ESPN ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...

held exclusive rights to the tournament. The network aired games across ABC, ESPN,

ESPNU ESPNU is an American multinational digital cable and satellite sports television channel owned by ESPN Inc., a joint venture between the Walt Disney Company (which owns a controlling 80% stake) and Hearst Communications (which owns the remain ...

ESPN+ ESPN+ is an American over-the-top subscription video streaming service available in the United States, owned by ESPN Inc., which is a joint venture between the Walt Disney Company (which owns a controlling 80% stake) and Hearst Communicati ...

SEC Network SEC Network (SECN) is an American multinational sports network owned by ESPN Inc., a joint venture between The Walt Disney Company (which operates the network, through its 80% controlling ownership interest) and Hearst Communications (which hold ...

Longhorn Network Longhorn Network (LHN) was an American regional sports network owned as a joint venture between The University of Texas at Austin, ESPN and Learfield (formerly IMG College), and was operated by ESPN (itself owned jointly by The Walt Disney Compa ...

, and

ACC Network ACC Network (ACCN) is an American multinational subscription-television channel owned and operated by ESPN Inc. Dedicated to coverage of the Atlantic Coast Conference, it was announced in July 2016 and launched on August 22, 2019. The channel ...

. For just the fifth time in the history of the women's softball tournament, ESPN covered every regional.

Broadcast assignments

''Regionals'' *Norman: Tiffany Greene & Erin Miller *Tallahassee: Mike Couzens & Kayla Braud *Blacksburg: Pam Ward & Jenny Dalton-Hill *Fayetteville: Eric Frede & Madison Shipman *Los Angeles: Trey Bender & Kenzie Fowler *Tuscaloosa: Alex Perlman & Francesca Enea *Stillwater: Alex Loeb &

Cat Osterman Catherine Leigh Osterman (born April 16, 1983) is a retired American softball player and currently the general manager of the Volts for the inaugural 2025 season of the Athletes Unlimited Softball League (AUSL). Osterman pitched on the United Stat ...

*Tempe: Eric Collins & Michele Smith ''Super Regionals'' *Norman: Pam Ward & Jenny Dalton-Hill *Blacksburg: Eric Frede, Madison Shipman & Jalyn Johnson *Fayetteville: Beth Mowins, Jessica Mendoza, Michele Smith & Holly Rowe *Los Angeles: Courtney Lyle & Danielle Lawrie ''Women's College World Series'' *Beth Mowins, Jessica Mendoza, Michele Smith & Holly Rowe (afternoons) *Kevin Brown, Amanda Scarborough & Andraya Carter (evenings) ''Regionals'' *Evanston: Matt Schumacker & Jennie Ritter *Clemson: Jenn Hildreth & Carol Bruggeman *Knoxville: Courtney Lyle & Danielle Lawrie *Durham: Clay Matvick & Brittany McKinney *Seattle: Mark Neely & Amanda Scarborough *Gainesville: Sam Gore & Sierra Romero *Columbia: Angel Gray & Tori Vidales *Orlando: Tyler Denning & Nicole Mendes ''Super Regionals'' *Stillwater: Kevin Brown, Amanda Scarborough & Andraya Carter *Tempe: Mike Couzens & Kayla Braud *Starkville: Tiffany Greene & Erin Miller *Stanford: Mark Neely & Carol Bruggeman ''Women's College World Series Finals'' *Beth Mowins, Jessica Mendoza, Michele Smith & Holly Rowe

References

{{2021–22 NCAA Division I championships navbox NCAA Division I softball tournament

Tournament A tournament is a competition involving at least three competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses: # One or more competitions held at a single venue and concen ...

Women's sports in Oklahoma