The 2022 NCAA Division I softball tournament was held from May 20 through June 9, 2022, as the final part of the 2022 NCAA Division I softball season. The tournament culminated with the 2022 Women's College World Series at USA Softball Hall of Fame Stadium in Oklahoma City.

Format A total of 64 teams entered 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 were issued at-large, with selections extended by the NCAA Selection Committee.

Bids The Big West, Mountain West, Pac-12 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 Conference School Best finish Last NCAA appearance America East UMBC Regionals(2002, 2019, 2021) 2021 American UCF Regionals(2005, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2021) 2021 ACC Florida State National Champion(2018) 2021 Atlantic 10 Fordham Regionals(2010, 2011, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019)2019 ASUN Liberty Regionals(2002, 2011, 2018, 2021)2021 Big 12 Oklahoma State Third Place(1989, 1990, 1994, 1998) 2021 Big East Villanova Regionals(2021) 2021 Big Sky Weber State Regionals(2015, 2016, 2019) 2019 Big South CampbellRegionals(1995, 2008, 2009, 2021)2021 Big Ten Nebraska Third Place(1984, 1987) 2016 Big West Cal State Fullerton National Champion(1986) 2019 CAA UNC Wilmington First appearance First appearance Conference USA North Texas First appearance First appearance Horizon Oakland Regionals(2002, 2003, 2015) 2015 Ivy League PrincetonWomen's College World Series(1995, 1996)2017 MAC Miami (OH) Regionals(2005, 2009, 2012, 2016, 2021)2021 MAAC Canisius Regionals(1994, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2005, 2007, 2008, 2009)2009 MEAC Howard Regionals(2007) 2007 MVC Missouri State National Champion (1974) 2011 Mountain West San Diego State Regionals(2001, 2003, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015) 2015 Northeast Saint Francis (PA) Regionals(2017, 2018, 2019, 2021)2021 OVC Murray State First appearance First appearance Pac-12 Arizona State National Champion(1972, 1973, 2008, 2011)2019 Patriot Lehigh Regionals(2001, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2015, 2017)2017 SEC Arkansas Super Regionals(2018, 2021) 2021 SoCon Chattanooga Regionals (2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2008, 2009, 2011, 2014, 2015, 2019) 2019 Southland McNeese State Regionals (1994, 2005, 2010, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2021)2021 SWAC Prairie View A&M Regionals(2018) 2018 Summit League South Dakota State Regionals(2021)2021 Sun Belt Louisiana Third Place(1993) 2021 WAC Grand Canyon First appearance First appearance WCC Loyola Marymount Regionals(2005, 2007)2007

At-large Team Conference SEC Arizona Pac-12 SEC Clemson ACC ACC SEC SEC ACC Big Ten SEC SEC Michigan Big Ten Big Ten SEC SEC Big Ten ACC Big Ten Oklahoma Big 12 Ole Miss SEC Oregon Pac-12 Oregon State Pac-12 American Pac-12 SEC Texas Big 12 SEC UCLA Pac-12 ACC Washington Pac-12 American Big Ten

By conference Conference Total Schools SEC12 Alabama, Arkansas, Auburn, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, LSU, Mississippi State, Missouri, Ole Miss, Tennessee, Texas A&M Big Ten7 Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, Northwestern, Ohio State, Wisconsin Pac-127 Arizona, Arizona State, Oregon, Oregon State, Stanford, UCLA, Washington ACC6 Clemson, Duke, Florida State, Georgia Tech, Notre Dame, Virginia Tech American3 South Florida, UCF, Wichita State Big 123 Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Texas ASUN1 Liberty America East1 UMBC Atlantic 101 Fordham Big East1 Villanova Big Sky1 Weber State Big South1 Campbell Big West1 Cal State Fullerton Colonial1 UNC Wilmington 1 North Texas Horizon1 Oakland Ivy League1 Princeton MAAC1 Canisius Mid-American1 Miami (OH) Mid-Eastern1 Howard Missouri Valley1 Missouri State Mountain West1 San Diego State Northeast1 Saint Francis (PA) Ohio Valley1 Murray State Patriot1 Lehigh SoCon1 Chattanooga Southland1 McNeese State Southwestern1 Prairie View A&M Summit1 South Dakota State Sun Belt1 Louisiana WAC1 Grand Canyon West Coast1 Loyola Marymount

National seeds 16 National Seeds were announced on the Selection Show, on Sunday, May 15 at 7 p.m. EDT on ESPN2. Teams in italics advanced to Super Regionals. Teams in bold advanced to the Women's College World Series.

1. Oklahoma

2.

3.

4.

5. UCLA

6.

7.

8. Arizona State

9.

10. Clemson

11.

12.

13. Washington

14.

15.

16.

Regionals and Super Regionals The Regionals took place May 20–22. The Super Regionals took place May 26–29.

Norman Super Regional

Tempe Super Regional

Los Angeles Super Regional

Fayetteville Super Regional

Blacksburg Super Regional

Stanford Super Regional Played at Boyd & Jill Smith Family Stadium in Stanford, California

Stillwater Super Regional

Starkville Super Regional Played at Nusz Park in Starkville, Mississippi

Women's College World Series The Women's College World Series was held June 2 through June 9 in Oklahoma City.

Participants

School Conference Record (conference) Head coach WCWS appearances† (including 2022 WCWS) WCWS best finish†* WCWS W–L record† (excluding 2022 WCWS) Arizona Pac-12 38–20 (8–16) Caitlin Lowe 25 (last: 2021) 1st(1991, 1993, 1994, 19961997, 2001, 2006, 2007) 62–36 SEC 48–17 (13–11) Tim Walton 11 (last: 2019) 1st(2014, 2015) 26–18 Big Ten 45–11 (19–4) Kate Drohan 6 (last: 2007) 2nd(2006) 14–11 Oklahoma Big 12 57–3 (17–1) Patty Gasso 15(last: 2021) 1st(2000, 2013, 2016, 2017, 2021) 38–22 Big 12 46–12 (14–4) Kenny Gajewski 10(last: 2021) 3rd (1989, 1990, 1993, 1994, 2022) 13–18 Oregon State Pac-12 39–20 (9–15) Laura Berg 2(last: 2006) 8th (2006) 0–2 Texas Big 12 43–19–1 (12–6) Mike White 6 (last: 2013) 3rd (2003, 2005, 2013) 7–10 UCLA Pac-12 48–8 (19–5) Kelly Inouye-Perez 31 (last: 2021) 1st (1982, 1984, 1985, 1988, 1989, 1990,1992, 1999, 2003, 2004, 2010, 2019) 104–38

Bracket

Game results Date Game Winning team Score Losing team Winning pitcher Losing pitcher Save Notes June 2 Game 1 Texas 7–2 UCLA Hailey Dolcini (23–10) Megan Faraimo (22–5) – Boxscore Game 2 Oklahoma Hope Trautwein (19–1) Danielle Williams (31–5) – Boxscore Game 3 7–1 Natalie Lugo (12–5) Sarah Haendiges (13–7) – Boxscore Game 4 4–2 Arizona Kelly Maxwell (19–4) Hanah Bowen (13–11) – Boxscore June 3 Game 5 UCLA 6–1 Northwestern Megan Faraimo (23–5) Danielle Williams (31–6) – Northwestern eliminatedBoxscore Game 6 Arizona 3–1 Oregon State Hanah Bowen (14–11) Mariah Mazon (17–12) – Oregon State eliminatedBoxscore June 4 Game 7 Oklahoma 7–2 Texas Hope Trautwein (20–1) Hailey Dolcini (23–11) – Boxscore Game 8 Oklahoma State 2–0 Florida Kelly Maxwell (20–4) Lexie Delbrey (15–4) – Boxscore June 5 Game 9 UCLA 8–0 (6) Florida Holly Azevedo (21–2) – Florida eliminatedBoxscore Texas 5–2 Arizona Estelle Czech (12–1) Hanah Bowen (14–12) – Arizona eliminatedBoxscore June 6 Game 11 UCLA 7–3 Oklahoma Nicole May (15–1) Boxscore Game 12 Oklahoma 15–0 (5) UCLA Hope Trautwein (21–1) Holly Azevedo (21–3) – UCLA eliminatedBoxscore Game 13 Texas 5–0 Estelle Czech (13–1) Morgan Day (13–5) – Boxscore Game 14 Texas 6–5 Oklahoma State Hailey Dolcini (24–11) Kelly Maxwell (20–5) – Oklahoma State eliminatedTexas: First unseeded team in WCWS history to advance to the finalsBoxscoreFinalsJune 8 Game 1 Oklahoma 16–1 Texas Hope Trautwein (22–1) Hailey Dolcini (24–12) – Oklahoma 1–0June 9 Game 2 Oklahoma 10–5 Texas Jordy Bahl (22–1) Estelle Czech (13–2) – Oklahoma wins WCWS

Finals

All-tournament Team The following players were members of the Women's College World Series All-Tournament Team. Position Player School P Estelle Czech Texas Megan Faraimo UCLA Kelly Maxwell Oklahoma State Hope Trautwein Oklahoma 1B Courtney Day Texas 2B Tiare Jennings Oklahoma OF Rylie Boone Oklahoma Bella Dayton Texas C Delanie Wisz UCLA U Jocelyn Alo (MOP) Oklahoma Maya Brady UCLA Jayda Coleman Oklahoma

Record by conference Conference# of BidsRecordWin % Big 12 3 26–8 3 3 3 3 2 1 Pac-12 7 32–16 7 5 3 1 – – SEC 12 31–26 10 3 1 – – – Big Ten 7 11–13 3 1 1 – – – ACC 6 11–13 4 3 – – – – American 3 5–6 1 1 – – – – Conference USA 1 2–2 1 – – – – – Mountain West 1 2–2 1 – – – – – Sun Belt 1 2–2 1 – – – – – Southland 1 2–2 1 – – – – – ASUN 1 1–2 – – – – – – Big West 1 1–2 – – – – – – MAC 1 1–2 – – – – – – Missouri Valley 1 1–2 – – – – – – Patriot 1 1–2 – – – – – – Southern 1 1–2 – – – – – – Summit1 1–2 – – – – – – West Coast 1 1–2 – – – – – – America East 1 0–2 .000 – – – – – – Atlantic 10 1 0–2 .000 – – – – – – Big East 1 0–2 .000 – – – – – – Big Sky 1 0–2 .000 – – – – – – Big South 1 0–2 .000 – – – – – – Colonial 1 0–2 .000 – – – – – – Horizon 1 0–2 .000 – – – – – – Ivy League 1 0–2 .000 – – – – – – Metro Atlantic 1 0–2 .000 – – – – – – Mid-Eastern 1 0–2 .000 – – – – – – Northeast 1 0–2 .000 – – – – – – Ohio Valley 1 0–2 .000 – – – – – – SWAC 1 0–2 .000 – – – – – – WAC 1 0–2 .000 – – – – – –

Media coverage

Radio For the second consecutive year Westwood One 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.

Television ESPN held exclusive rights to the tournament. The network aired games across ABC, ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, ESPN+, SEC Network, Longhorn Network, and ACC Network. For just the fifth time in the history of the women's softball tournament, ESPN covered every regional.

Broadcast assignments

Regionals Norman: Tiffany Greene & Erin Miller Tallahassee: Mike Couzens & Kayla Braud Blacksburg: Pam Ward & Jenny Dalton-Hill Fayetteville: Eric Frede & Madison Shipman Los Angeles: Trey Bender & Kenzie Fowler Tuscaloosa: Alex Perlman & Francesca Enea Stillwater: Alex Loeb & Cat Osterman Tempe: Eric Collins & Michele Smith Super Regionals Norman: Pam Ward & Jenny Dalton-Hill Blacksburg: Eric Frede, Madison Shipman & Jalyn Johnson Fayetteville: Beth Mowins, Jessica Mendoza, Michele Smith & Holly Rowe Los Angeles: Courtney Lyle & Danielle Lawrie Women's College World Series Beth Mowins, Jessica Mendoza, Michele Smith & Holly Rowe (afternoons) Kevin Brown, Amanda Scarborough & Andraya Carter (evenings)

Regionals Evanston: Matt Schumacker & Jennie Ritter Clemson: Jenn Hildreth & Carol Bruggeman Knoxville: Courtney Lyle & Danielle Lawrie Durham: Clay Matvick & Brittany McKinney Seattle: Mark Neely & Amanda Scarborough Gainesville: Sam Gore & Sierra Romero Columbia: Angel Gray & Tori Vidales Orlando: Tyler Denning & Nicole Mendes Super Regionals Stillwater: Kevin Brown, Amanda Scarborough & Andraya Carter Tempe: Mike Couzens & Kayla Braud Starkville: Tiffany Greene & Erin Miller Stanford: Mark Neely & Carol Bruggeman Women's College World Series Finals Beth Mowins, Jessica Mendoza, Michele Smith & Holly Rowe

References