UCLA softball earns record 40th NCAA tournament appearance, will host regional

OKLAHOMA CITY — UCLA earned a No. 9 NCAA softball national seed and will host a regional during its first season as a Big Ten member.

The Bruins (49-10, 17-5 Big Ten) lost to Michigan 2-0 in the Big Ten tournament title game, but still earned the right to host the Los Angeles Regional. UCLA is making a record 40th appearance in the NCAA tournament.

Regional No. 2 seed Arizona State, Regional No. 3 seed San Diego State and Regional No. 4 seed UC Santa Barbara also earn bids in UCLA’s regional, with the Regional No. 1 seed Bruins playing UC Santa Barbara at 4:30 p.m. PDT Friday (ESPN+) and Arizona State playing San Diego State at 7 p.m. Friday (ESPN2).

Texas A&M earned the overall No. 1 seed in the NCAA Division I softball tournament on Sunday, edging four-time defending national champion Oklahoma for the top spot and leading seven Southeastern Conference teams seeded in the top eight.

Oklahoma won the SEC regular-season title by a game over Texas A&M in its first season in the conference. Texas A&M and Oklahoma tied for the conference tournament title after the championship game was canceled because of bad weather.

No. 3 seed Florida, a national semifinalist last season, and No. 4 Arkansas also represent the SEC. Oklahoma State, which has made five consecutive Women’s College World Series appearances, is in the regional with Arkansas.

The final eight teams in the 64-team field will play in the WCWS from May 29-June 5 in Oklahoma City.

No. 5 seed Florida State, the Atlantic Coast Conference regular-season champion, is the top-seeded team from outside the SEC. The Seminoles won the national title in 2018 and were runners-up in 2021 and 2023.

Florida State is followed by three more SEC teams. Texas, the national runner-up two of the past three seasons, is No. 6. Tennessee, with hard-throwing Karlyn Pickens, is No 7. South Carolina is No. 8 after being picked 15th out of 15 teams in the preseason SEC poll.

No. 10 seed LSU could be challenged. Nebraska, led by former Oklahoma pitcher Jordyn Bahl, also will be in the Baton Rouge Regional. Bahl was the Most Outstanding Player of the World Series in 2023.

Clemson, the ACC tournament champion after knocking off Florida State in the title game, is No. 11.

No. 12 seed Texas Tech, the Big 12 regular-season and tournament champion, features NiJaree Canady, the reigning National Fastpitch Coaches Association Player of the Year. Canady did not allow a run in 16 2/3 innings at the Big 12 Tournament and was named its Most Outstanding Player.

Arizona, which lost to Texas Tech in the Big 12 title game, earned the No. 13 seed.

Duke reached the WCWS for the first time last season and will host a regional this year as the No. 14 seed.

Another SEC team, Alabama, is the No. 15 seed.

Oregon (47-7), the Big Ten regular-season champion, was seeded 16th.

Brunt writes for the Associated Press.