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 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. Eight teams participate in the WCWS, which begins with a double-elimination tournament. In other wo ...

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 capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The county seat of Oklahoma County, it ranks 20th among United States cities in population, an ...

Charlotte Charlotte ( ) is the List of municipalities in North Carolina, most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont (United States), Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, Meckl ...

Eastern Illinois Eastern Illinois University is a public university in Charleston, Illinois. Established in 1895 as the Eastern Illinois State Normal School, a teacher's college offering a two-year degree, Eastern Illinois University gradually expanded into a co ...

George Mason George Mason (October 7, 1792) was an American planter, politician, Founding Father, and delegate to the U.S. Constitutional Convention of 1787, one of the three delegates present who refused to sign the Constitution. His writings, including s ...

North Carolina Central North Carolina Central University (NCCU or NC Central) is a public historically black university in Durham, North Carolina. Founded by James E. Shepard in affiliation with the Chautauqua movement in 1909, it was supported by private funds from ...

Northern Colorado Northern Colorado is the name for a region in the state of Colorado and a proposed state in the northeastern portion of Colorado. Region Northern Colorado is a region in the northern portion of Colorado. It borders northwestern Colorado, northe ...

Northern Kentucky Northern Kentucky is the third-largest metropolitan area in the U.S. Commonwealth of Kentucky after Louisville and Lexington, and its cities and towns serve as the de facto "south side" communities of Cincinnati, Ohio. The three main countie ...

, and Omaha made their NCAA Division I softball tournament debuts.

Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States. It is the list of U.S. states and territories by area, 6th largest and the list of U.S. states and territories by population, 14 ...

failed to make the NCAA tournament for the first time since

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, while

Michigan Michigan () is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the List of U.S. states and ...

failed to make the tournament for the first time since

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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

At-large

By conference

National seeds

Sixteen national seeds were announced on the Selection Show, on Sunday, May 14 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
2.

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a Normal school, teachers colle ...

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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 will be held June 1 through June 9 in Oklahoma City.

Participants

Bracket

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

Game results

Finals

Game 1

Game 2

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 third consecutive year

Westwood One Westwood One 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 1978. The company w ...

provided nationwide radio coverage of every game in the Women's College World Series. Ryan Radtke and

Leah Amico Leah Marie O'Brien-Amico (born September 9, 1974) is an American, former collegiate All-American, three-time Olympian, left-handed-hitting softball outfielder and sports commentator originally from Chino, California. O'Brien-Amico is best kn ...

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 ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

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 Disney Media Networks division of The Walt Disney Company (which owns a controlling 80% stake) and the He ...

ESPN+ ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

SEC Network The SEC Network 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) is an American regional sports network owned as a joint venture between The University of Texas at Austin, ESPN and Learfield (formerly IMG College), and is 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 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 Nicole Rangel Mendes is an American former college softball player and current member of Mexico women's national softball team. She played college softball for the Oklahoma Sooners where she helped lead the Sooners to four consecutive Women's Co ...

*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 Mark Neely is an American sportscaster. He currently serves as a play-by-play announcer for ''ESPN College Football'', ''College Basketball on ESPN'' and ''NBA on ESPN'' and was previously a television announcer for San Diego Padres baseball. ...

Amanda Scarborough Amanda Marie Scarborough (born May 10, 1986) is an American sports broadcaster for ESPN and former softball player. Playing college softball at Texas A&M, Scarborough was a two-time NFCA All-American, the 2005 Big 12 Conference Player of the Yea ...

*Baton Rouge: Alex Perlman & Francesca Enea *Fayetteville: Drew Carter &

Jenny Dalton-Hill Jenny Dalton-Hill (born March 5, 1974) is an American former collegiate All-American softball player and current sports commentator. She played for the Arizona Wildcats from 1993 to 1996 where she won three Women's College World Series champion ...

*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 Eric Frede is an American sportscaster who has worked for NESN since 2002. He was previously the play-by-play announcer for NESN College Football Saturday broadcasts until he left NESN and joined NBC Sports Boston and is currently an anchor fo ...

Madison Shipman Madison Shipman (born 1992) is an American former professional softball player. She played college softball at Tennessee. Playing career She attended Valencia High School and she later attended the University of Tennessee, where she played for ...

''Super Regionals'' *Stillwater: Kevin Brown & Amanda Scarborough *Seattle: Mark Neely & Carol Bruggeman *Durham:

Pam Ward Pam Ward is an on-air personality for the cable sports television network ESPN, serving as one of the play-by-play announcers for ESPN's coverage of the 2012 and 2013 Women's College World Series of Softball. She is a graduate of the University of ...

& 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

{{DEFAULTSORT:NCAA Division I Softball Tournament

2023 Events Predicted and scheduled events * January 1 ** In the United States, books, films, and other works published in 1927 will enter the public domain, assuming there are no changes made to copyright law. ** Croatia will adopt the eu ...

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 concentr ...

Women's sports in Oklahoma