NCAA Softball Championships 2022 Bracket: Schedule, Matchups and More
The bracket for the 2022 Women's College World Series was revealed Sunday, painting a picture for the road to Oklahoma City.
The Oklahoma Sooners (49-2) are going for their second consecutive national championship and will once again be the No. 1 overall seed in the 64-team field. 2021 runner-up Florida State (52-5) represents the Sooners' biggest potential roadblock to another title. The Seminoles have been motivated to erase the memory of last year's loss.
Here's a look at the schedule for each of the three rounds in the WCWS, with the full bracket available on NCAA.com:
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2022 NCAA Softball Tournament Schedule
Regionals: May 20-22
Super Regionals: May 26-29
Women's College World Series: June 2-9 (or 10, if necessary)
The action will get underway with 16 regionals:
2022 NCAA Softball Tournament Regional Sites
Norman Regional
No. 1 Oklahoma vs. Prairie View A&M
Texas A&M vs. Minnesota
Tallahassee Regional
No. 2 Florida State vs. Howard
Mississippi State vs. South Florida
Blacksburg Regional
No. 3 Virginia Tech vs. St. Francis (PA)
Kentucky vs. Miami (OH)
Fayetteville Regional
No. 4 Arkansas vs. Princeton
Oregon vs. Wichita State
Los Angeles Regional
No. 5 UCLA vs. Grand Canyon
Ole Miss vs. Loyola Marymount
Tuscaloosa Regional
No. 6 Alabama vs. Chattanooga
Stanford vs. Murray State
Stillwater Regional
No. 7 Oklahoma State vs. Fordham
Nebraska vs. North Texas
Tempe Regional
No. 8 Arizona State vs. Cal State Fullerton
LSU vs. San Diego State
Evanston Regional
No. 9 Northwestern vs. Oakland
Notre Dame vs. McNeese
Clemson Regional
No. 10 Clemson vs. UNC-Wilmington
Auburn vs. Louisiana
Knoxville Regional
No. 11 Tennessee vs. Campbell
Ohio State vs. Oregon State
Durham Regional
No. 12 Duke vs. UMBC
Georgia vs. Liberty
Seattle Regional
No. 13 Washington vs. Lehigh
Texas vs. Weber State
Gainesville Regional
No. 14 Florida vs. Canisius
Georgia Tech vs. Wisconsin
Columbia Regional
No. 15 Missouri vs. Missouri State
Illinois vs. Arizona
Orlando Regional
No. 16 UCF vs. Villanova
Michigan vs. South Dakota State
Rival Oklahoma State upset Oklahoma in the Big 12 tournament title game, but don't sleep on the Sooners. Head coach Patty Gasso believes the loss was a necessary lesson for the team to refocus as it pursues another title.
"This team is not happy with the defeat,” Gasso told reporters after the conference championship. “They always seem to bounce back even stronger usually. ... They're used to and wanting to always win championships, so when someone takes it from them, they don't like it, and they respond."
Gasso continued: "I hope and trust that in practice we'll feel that. That's what this was about really is getting ourselves prepared for the biggest prize there is in softball, and that is to be standing with the trophy at the end of the year."
The Sooners are led by redshirt senior utility player Jocelyn Alo, who is batting .481 this year with 25 home runs. Alo holds the all-time NCAA record with 111 homers and was named Big 12 Player of the Year for the second consecutive season. She wasn't the only Sooner to earn conference hardware.
Florida State hasn't lost since April 16 and is peaking at the right time after winning the ACC tournament. Third baseman Sydney Sherrill is a star at the hot corner, winning ACC Defensive Player of the Year for the third straight season.
In the 2021 WCWS finals, the Seminoles won the first matchup before dropping the next two games to the Sooners. If the two teams meet again this time around, Florida State will surely be out for some revenge.
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