Mizzou Tigers softball team lands No. 8 overall seed in NCAA Tournament
Missouri will not have to leave Columbia to reach the Women’s College World Series.
The Tigers received the No. 8 overall seed in the NCAA Division I Softball Championship, a bracket that was announced on Sunday. That means if Mizzou gets through its four-team double-elimination regional with Iowa State, Northern Iowa and Illinois-Chicago, it would be a host for a super regional May 27-30.
The eight best-of-three super regional winners advance to the College World Series on June 3-9 in Oklahoma City.
“At the beginning of the season, one of our goals was to put ourselves in a position to host regionals and super regionals. I am so proud that we were able to do that,” Mizzou coach Larissa Anderson said.
The regional round begins Friday with Mizzou playing Illinois-Chicago, the Horizon League champion, at 3:30 p.m.
Friday’s winners will play in the first of three games Saturday. Friday’s losing teams will play the second game on Saturday. The loser of Saturday’s first game will play the winner of the second game in the nightcap on Saturday. The winner of the first and last games Saturday will play for the regional title Sunday.
Missouri is one of five SEC teams to receive a top-eight seed, joining No 3 Alabama, No 4 Florida, No. 6 Arkansas and No. 7 LSU.
Oklahoma is the overall top seed, UCLA is second and Oklahoma State is No. 5.
The Tigers (38-15) reached the SEC Tournament semifinals last weekend before falling to Florida. They finished fourth in the regular season.
Mizzou is making its 24th NCAA Tournament appearance. The Tigers have reached the Women’s College World Series six times, the most recent in 2011.
These will be the first NCAA Tournament games at Mizzou Softball Stadium, which opened in 2017. The school’s athletic department announced last week that capacity for remaining spring games will be 50 percent. The stadium seats 2,500.
