The 1997

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 ...

was the sixteenth annual tournament to determine the national champion of

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

women's collegiate softball. Held during May 1997, thirty-two Division I college softball teams contested the championship. The tournament featured eight regionals of four teams, each in a

double elimination A double-elimination tournament is a type of elimination tournament competition in which a participant ceases to be eligible to win the tournament's championship upon having lost ''two'' games or matches. It stands in contrast to a single-elimina ...

format. The 1997 Women's College World Series was held in

Oklahoma City, Oklahoma 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, and ...

from May 22 through May 26 and marked the conclusion of the

1997 NCAA Division I softball season The 1997 NCAA Division I softball season, a play of college softball in the United States organized by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the Division I level, began in February 1997. The season progressed through the regul ...

. The event returned to Oklahoma City after a one-year hiatus, and it has remained there ever since.

Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...

won their fifth NCAA championship by defeating

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...

10–2 in the final game. Arizona pitcher Nancy Evans was named

Women's College World Series Most Outstanding Player The Women's College World Series Most Outstanding Player is an award for the best individual performance during the Women's College World Series, the college softball national championship event in the United States. The recipient of the award is ...

Qualifying

Regionals

Regional No. 1 - held at Tucson, Arizona

Arizona qualifies for WCWS.

Regional No. 2 - held at Columbia, South Carolina

South Carolina qualifies for WCWS.

Regional No. 3 - held at Iowa City, Iowa

Iowa qualifies for WCWS.

Regional No. 4 - held at Fresno, California

Fresno State qualifies for WCWS.

Regional No. 5 - held at Lafayette, Louisiana

UCLA qualifies for WCWS

Regional No. 6 - held at Ann Arbor, Michigan

Michigan qualifies for WCWS.

Regional No. 7 - held at Norman, Oklahoma

Washington qualifies for WCWS.

Regional No. 8 - held at Amherst, Massachusetts

UMass qualifies for WCWS.

Women's College World Series

Participants

†: Excludes results of the pre-NCAA Women's College World Series of 1969 through 1981.

Results

Bracket

Game results

Championship Game

All-Tournament Team

The following players were members of the All-Tournament Team.

References

{{1996–97 NCAA Division I championships navbox 1997 NCAA Division I softball season NCAA Division I softball tournament Women's sports in Oklahoma