University of Georgia Athletics
Division I Softball NCAA Championship Pairings Announced
May 12, 2002 | Softball
May 12, 2002
NCAA Regional Bracket in PDF Format
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May 12, 2002 - A field of 48 teams were selected for the 2002 Division I Women's Softball Championship. Six teams will participate at each of eight regional sites in a double-elimination tournament. The top eight seeds are: UCLA, Arizona, LSU, Cal State Fullerton, Texas, Washington, Nebraska and Florida Atlantic.
Division I Softball Championship Pairings Announced
May 12, 2002 - DATES/SITES/PAIRINGS:
* Indicates host institution
Seed No. 1 - May 16-19 at Columbia, South Carolina
No. 1 seed UCLA (50-6)
No. 2 seed Georgia (57-15)
No. 3 seed *South Carolina (43-18)
No. 4 seed Eastern Kentucky (36-12)
No. 5 seed UMBC (46-19)
No. 6 seed Liberty (28-31)
Bracket
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Seed No. 2 - May 16-19 at Minneapolis, Minnesota
No. 1 seed Arizona (48-10)
No. 2 seed DePaul (46-9)
No. 3 seed *Minnesota (35-19)
No. 4 seed Princeton (34-16)
No. 5 seed Penn State (32-24)
No. 6 seed Boston U. (28-21)
Seed No. 3 - May 16-19 at Lafayette, Louisiana
No. 1 seed LSU (53-9)
No. 2 seed Arizona St. (40-18)
No. 3 seed *Louisiana-Lafayette (49-11)
No. 4 seed Massachusetts (52-11)
No. 5 seed Mississippi State (35-29)
No. 6 seed Northwestern State (45-23)
Seed No. 4 - May 16-19 at Fresno, California
No. 1 seed Cal St. Fullerton (50-11)
No. 2 seed Stanford (43-18)
No. 3 seed California (48-19)
No. 4 seed *Fresno St. (49-18)
No. 5 seed Pacific (Cal.) (42-15)
No. 6 seed Evansville (34-25)
Seed No. 5 - May 16-19 at Norman, Oklahoma
No. 1 seed Texas (46-11)
No. 2 seed *Oklahoma (44-14)
No. 3 seed Texas A&M (38-16)
No. 4 seed Arkansas (32-26)
No. 5 seed Utah (30-34)
No. 6 seed Army (30-17-1)
Seed No. 6 - May 16-19 at Ann Arbor, Michigan
No. 1 seed Washington (43-16)
No. 2 seed *Michigan (46-9)
No. 3 seed Ohio State (53-12)
No. 4 seed Central Michigan (38-14)
No. 5 seed Canisius (33-14)
No. 6 seed Oakland (24-35-1)
Seed No. 7 - May 16-19 at Iowa City, Iowa
No. 1 seed Nebraska (45-12)
No. 2 seed Oregon State (38-23)
No. 3 seed Notre Dame (41-15)
No. 4 seed *Iowa (35-18)
No. 5 seed Wisconsin (31-20)
No. 6 seed Illinois-Chicago (42-20)
Seed No. 8 - May 16-19 at Tallahassee, Florida
No. 1 seed Florida Atlantic (59-11)
No. 2 seed Alabama (46-19)
No. 3 seed *Florida State (49-17)
No. 4 seed Auburn (38-25)
No. 5 seed Georgia Tech (47-16)
No. 6 seed Chattanooga (40-13)
Teams advancing to the Women's College World Series (WCWS), May 23-27 at the Amateur Sports Association's (ASA) Hall of Fame Stadium in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, will be advanced into the WCWS bracket according to the overall regional seeding (i.e., regional No. 1 winner will be seed No.1).
CHAMPIONSHIP STRUCTURE:
The Division I championship provides for a field of 48 teams. Six teams will participate at each of eight regional sites in a double-elimination tournament. Eight teams will be seeded and each of the seeded teams will be placed at one of the regional sites. The regional winners advance to the WCWS, an eight-team, double-elimination tournament. (Note: The championship final is a single game final.) Regionals will be conducted May 16-19 on the campuses of competing institutions. The WCWS will be conducted May 23-27 at the ASA Hall of Fame Stadium in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
SELECTION PROCESS:
The NCAA Division I Women's Softball Committee selected teams from the following eight regions to participate in the championship: Central, East, Northeast, South, Mideast, Midwest, West and Pacific. Twenty-two conferences have been granted automatic qualification for the 2002 championship. Four conferences will participate in a play-in to determine the remaining two automatic berths.
SEEDING, SITE SELECTION:
Seeded teams were placed in the bracket, and the remaining selected teams were placed in their most proximate geographic regions. The committee maintained the ability to balance the bracket and/or avoid first-round (defined as the first three games of the regional tournament) conference match-ups by moving a team to another region when necessary, but flights could not be created in doing so.
Top-seeded teams were not guaranteed to host a regional because site selection was based on geographic location.
CONFERENCES RECEIVING AUTOMATIC QUALIFICATION:
America East Conference - Boston U.
Atlantic 10 Conference - Massachusetts
Atlantic Sun Conference - Florida Atlantic
Big East Conference -Notre Dame
Big South Conference - Liberty
Big Ten Conference -Michigan
Big Twelve Conference -Texas
Big West Conference - Cal State Fullerton
Conference USA - DePaul
Horizon League - Illinois-Chicago
Ivy Group - Princeton
Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference - Canisius
Mid-American Athletic Conference -Central Michigan
Mid-Continent Conference - Oakland
Missouri Valley Conference - Evansville
Mountain West - Utah
Northeast Conference-UMBC
Ohio Valley-Eastern Kentucky
Pacific-10 Conference -UCLA
Patriot League-Army
Southeastern Conference - LSU
Southern Conference - Chattanooga
Southland Conference - Northwestern State
Western Athletic Conference - Fresno State
TELEVISION COVERAGE:
ESPN2 will televise games one, three through six and 10 through 12 live. All game times listed are Eastern time: Game 1 - 11 a.m.; Game 3 - 7 p.m.; Game 4 - 9:30 p.m.; Game 5 - 5 p.m.; Game 6 - 7:30 p.m.; Game 10 - 10 p.m.; Game 11 - 1 p.m.; Game 12 - 3:30 p.m.
ESPN will televise games two and seven through nine live: Game 2 - 1:30 p.m.; Game 7 - 2 p.m.; Game 8 - 4:30 p.m.; Game 9 - 7:30 p.m. Because this is a double elimination format, one or two games may be played Sunday evening. If two games are played, they will be shown live on ESPN2 at 6 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. Eastern time. If only one "if necessary" game is played, it will be played at 6 p.m. Eastern time. The championship game will be shown live on ESPN at 1:15 p.m. Eastern time, Monday, May 27.
CHAMPIONSHIP NOTES:
2001 Highlights: Arizona's Jennie Finch finished her 32-0 season on the mound with a 1-0 win over UCLA in the WCWS championship game May 28 and was named the most-outstanding player in the tournament.
The championship match-up was a familiar one for Finch and the Wildcats, who faced their Pacific-10 Conference rival for the fourth time of the season. Arizona had won two of the first three. The two teams have now met six times in the championship-game history. Arizona owns six NCAA titles, second to UCLA's eight.
Home runs had been the difference for Arizona's advancing to the championship game, including a home run in each of the Wildcat's three games of the WCWS from senior Toni Mascarenas.
While UCLA pitcher Amanda Freed held Arizona to just three hits in the final, one, a homer from senior catcher Lindsey Collins in the fourth inning, made the difference in the game.
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