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 2023 NCAA Division I softball season, play of college softball in the United States organized by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the NCAA Division I, Division I level, began in February 2023. The season progressed throu ...

. 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 ...

USA Softball Hall of Fame Stadium OGE Energy Field at the USA Softball Hall of Fame Stadium is a softball-specific ballpark located inside the USA Softball Hall of Fame Complex in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, United States. It seats 13,000 and is the site of the annual Women's Colleg ...

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, a ...

Charlotte Charlotte ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County. The population was 874,579 at the 2020 census, making Charlotte the 16th-most populo ...

, Eastern Illinois,

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 ...

, North Carolina Central,

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, nort ...

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 counties ...

, and Omaha made their

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 s ...

debuts.

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 ...

failed to make the NCAA tournament for the first time since 1986, while

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...

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 fo ...

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

. 1.

Oklahoma Oklahoma (; Choctaw language, Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the nor ...

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 ...

3.
4.

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...

5.
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9.
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''
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 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 compan ...

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 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 ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

, ESPN,

, ESPNU,

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 holds ...

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 Company a ...

, 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 Clay Matvick (born August 12, 1973 in St. Cloud, Minnesota, Saint Cloud, Minnesota) is an American sportscaster, who works primarily as a play-by-play announcer for American Broadcasting Company, ABC and the ESPN networks. Background Matvick gra ...

Natasha Watley Natasha Renee Watley (born November 27, 1981) is an American, former collegiate four-time first-team All-American, two-time medal winning Olympic Games, Olympian, retired seven-time pro All-Star softball player. Watley played college softball at ...

*Tallahassee: Courtney Lyle &

Danielle Lawrie Danielle Elaine Lawrie (born April 11, 1987) is a Canadian, former collegiate All-American, medal-winning Olympian, professional All-Star softball pitcher and current sports commentator. Lawrie played college softball at Washington, in which sh ...

*Knoxville: Mike Couzens & Kayla Braud *Tuscaloosa: Roy Philpott &

Aleshia Ocasio Aleshia Ocasio (born August 15, 1996) is a professional American softball player. She played college softball at Florida. Ocasio most recently played in the Athletes Unlimited Softball, where she won the 2021 championship as the top individual poi ...

*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 Elizabeth Mowins (born May 26, 1967) is an American play-by-play announcer and sports journalist for ESPN, CBS, and Marquee Sports Network. She typically calls women's college sports, and became the second woman to call nationally televised c ...

Jessica Mendoza Jessica Ofelia Mendoza (born November 11, 1980) is an American sportscaster and former softball player. Currently, she serves as a color commentator and analyst for ESPN's coverage of Major League Baseball and Los Angeles Dodgers coverage on ...

, Michele Smith, &

Holly Rowe Holly Rowe (born June 16, 1966) is an American sports telecaster currently working for the sports television network ESPN. Rowe is best known as a sideline reporter for college football games which are telecast on ESPN. Rowe made Utah Jazz team ...

*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 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 Year, ...

*Baton Rouge: Alex Perlman & Francesca Enea *Fayetteville: Drew Carter & Jenny Dalton-Hill *Evanston: Tyler Denning &

Jennie Ritter Jennifer Darlene Ritter (born June 1, 1984) is an American, former collegiate All-American, retired softball pitcher and current sports commentator. She played college softball and was a starting pitcher for the Michigan Wolverines softball f ...

*Austin: Alex Loeb &

Cat Osterman Catherine Leigh Osterman (born April 16, 1983) is a retired American softball player. Osterman pitched on the United States women's national softball team that won the gold medal at the 2004 Summer Olympics and silver medal at the 2008 and 2020 Su ...

*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 for ...

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