The 2016 NCAA Division I softball tournament was held from May 20 through June 8, 2016 as the final part of the

2016 NCAA Division I softball season The 2016 NCAA Division I softball season, play 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 2016. The season progressed t ...

. The 64

NCAA Division I NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest division of intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major collegiate athlet ...

college softball College softball is softball as played on the intercollegiate level at institutions of higher education, predominantly in the United States. College softball is normally played by women at the Intercollegiate level, whereas college baseball is nor ...

teams were to be selected out of an eligible 293 teams on May 15, 2016. Thirty-two teams were awarded an automatic bid as champions of their conference, and thirty-two teams were selected at-large by the NCAA Division I softball selection committee. The tournament culminated with eight teams playing in the 2016

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 ...

ASA Hall of Fame Stadium Devon Park, originally known as the Don E. Porter ASA Hall of Fame Stadium from 1987 to 2017 and USA Softball Hall of Fame Stadium, until 2024, is softball-specific ballpark located inside the USA Softball Hall of Fame Complex in Oklahoma City, ...

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 ...

in which the

Oklahoma Sooners The Oklahoma Sooners are the college athletics in the United States , athletic teams that represent the University of Oklahoma, located in Norman, Oklahoma, Norman. The 19 men's and women's varsity teams are called the "Sooners", a reference to ...

were crowned the champions.

Automatic bids

The Big 12, 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.

National seeds

16 National Seeds were announced on the Selection Show Sunday, May 15 at 10 p.m. EDT on

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 ...

. The 16 national seeds hosted the Regionals. Teams in italics advanced to Super Regionals. Teams in bold advanced to

. 1. ' (53–5)
2. (46–5)
3.

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 ...

(47–7)
4. Auburn (49–9)
5. ' (44–8)
6.

Alabama Alabama ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South, Deep Southern regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gu ...

(46–12)
7. ' (46–4)
8. (48–8) 9. (43–12)
10. (45–15)
11. ' (36–13)
12. (35–13–1)
13. (41–14)
14. '' Louisiana–Lafayette'' (43–7)
15. ' (39–14)
16. (40–17)

Regionals and Super Regionals

The Regionals took place May 19–22. The Columbia regional took place May 19–21 because of BYU's no Sunday-play policy. All other regionals occurred May 20–22. The Super Regionals took place from May 26–29.

Gainesville Super Regional

Tallahassee Super Regional

Eugene Super Regional

Auburn Super Regional

Norman Super Regional

Tuscaloosa Super Regional

Harrisonburg Super Regional

Ann Arbor Super Regional

Women's College World Series

The Women's College World Series was held June 2 through June 8, 2016, in Oklahoma City.

Participants

Bracket

Finals

Game 1

Game 2

Game 3

Record by conference

The columns RF, SR, WS, NS, CS, and NC respectively stand for the Regional Finals, Super Regionals, College World Series Teams, National Semi-Finals, Championship Series, and National Champion.

Media coverage

Radio

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 the championship series. It was streamed online at westwoodsports.com and through

TuneIn TuneIn is a global audio streaming service providing news, radio, sports, music, and podcasts to over 75 million monthly active users. TuneIn is operated by the privately held company TuneIn Inc. based in San Francisco, California. The comp ...

. Kevin Kugler and Leah Amico provided the call for Westwood One.

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 ...

holds exclusive rights to the tournament. They aired games across ESPN,

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 ...

, and

. Select regionals and super-regionals were broadcast on additional ESPN stations like

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 ...

ESPN3 ESPN3 (formerly ESPN360 and ESPN3.com) is an internet, online streaming media, streaming service owned by ESPN Inc., a joint venture between the Walt Disney Company (which operates the network, through its 80% controlling ownership interest) an ...

, SEC Network Plus, and

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 ...

. Any regionals not picked up by ESPN were streamed online by the host institution or broadcast by their television partners.

Broadcast assignments

''Regionals'' *Columbia: Pam Ward & Cheri Kempf *Gainesville: Trey Bender & Jennie Ritter *Tallahassee: Melissa Lee & Leah Ross *Tuscaloosa: Cara Capuano & Leah Amico *Knoxville: Beth Mowins & Michele Smith *Auburn:

Tiffany Greene Tiffany may refer to: People * Tiffany (given name), list of people with this name * Tiffany (surname), list of people with this surname * Tiffany Darwish, (born 1971), an American singer, songwriter and actress known mononymously as Tiffany * Ti ...

& Jenny Dalton-Hill *Lafayette: Adam Amin & Amanda Scarborough ''(ESPN Nets)''
Tyler Denning & Megan Willis ''(LHN)'' *Norman: Jenn Hildreth & Carol Bruggeman *Eugene: Mark Neely & Danielle Lawrie *Athens: Kaleb Frady & Natalie Kerns *Baton Rouge: Lyn Rollins & Yvette Girouard *Lexington: Dave Baker & Dorian Craft (Fri) or Ginny Carroll (Sat/Sun) *Ann Arbor: Lisa Byington & Stacey Phillips ''( BTN)'' *Harrisonburg: Curt Dudley & Kim Fucci ''(Madizone HD SN)'' *Seattle: Mike Brown ''(P12 WASH)'' *Los Angeles- No commentary ''(P12 UCLA)'' ''Super Regionals'' *Gainesville: Trey Bender & Jennie Ritter *Norman: Adam Amin & Amanda Scarborough *Harrisonburg: Jenn Hildreth & Carol Bruggeman *Tallahassee: Cara Capuano & Leah Amico *Tuscaloosa: Beth Mowins, Michele Smith, & Jessica Mendoza *Ann Arbor: Pam Ward & Cheri Kempf *Auburn: Tiffany Greene & Jenny Dalton-Hill *Eugene: Mark Neely & Danielle Lawrie ''Women's College World Series'' *Adam Amin, Amanda Scarborough, & Laura Rutledge (afternoons) *Beth Mowins, Jessica Mendoza, Michele Smith, & Holly Rowe (evenings & championship series)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:2016 NCAA Division I softball tournament 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 ...

NCAA Division I softball tournament The NCAA Division I softball tournament is held annually in May/June and features 64 college softball teams in the United States, culminating in the Women's College World Series (WCWS), which is played in Oklahoma City. Tournament play and team ...

Women's sports in Oklahoma