NCAA Softball Tournament bracket: Arizona hosts New Mexico State, St. Francis (PA), and South Carolina

The road to OKC goes through Tucson

For the 31st consecutive season, the Arizona Wildcats are in the NCAA Softball Tournament.

This wasn’t a question heading into Sunday night since Arizona had clinched an auto-bid with its first Pac-12 title since 2007, but the question really was would they be a national seed and be guaranteed to stay in Tucson the first two weekends?

Well, they are a national seed — No. 2 to be exact — and will have the opportunity to host a Super Regional for the first time since 2011 assuming they can get through the first weekend.

The No. 2 national seed is the highest Arizona is ranked in the tournament since 2007, which happens to be the same year as the program’s most recent National Championship.

The Wildcats, who have a 48-7 overall record this year (18-6 Pac-12), will welcome New Mexico State, St. Francis (PA), and South Carolina to Tucson this coming weekend.

Tucson Regional:
South Carolina vs. Saint Francis (PA)
New Mexico State vs. Arizona http://pic.twitter.com/muFR5Y6GPk

— NCAA Softball (@NCAAsoftball) May 15, 2017

The Regional round is a four-team, double elimination pool. Arizona will play NMSU first, and then progress from there throughout the weekend.

The Super Regional round is still a best-of-three format, but will take place over three days instead of the customary two days in the softball tournament.

If Arizona does indeed win its regional, they would play the winner of the Waco Regional, which includes Baylor, Kent State, Oregon State, and James Madison.

Waco Regional:
Baylor vs. Kent State
Oregon State vs. James Madison http://pic.twitter.com/yuTO3v4IlX

— NCAA Softball (@NCAAsoftball) May 15, 2017

In other Pac-12 news, Oregon is the No. 3 national seed, while UCLA is the No. 5 seed. Washington is the No. 6 seed and Utah is the No. 11 seed, making it five different Pac-12 host sites. ASU will travel to the Oxford Regional to potentially face Ole Miss. Former Wildcat Taryne Mowatt is on the Rebels’ coaching staff. Cal will travel to Auburn.

Here’s a look at the full bracket:

Full 2017 #NCAASoftball Championship bracket: https://t.co/sFA5Eftv4q http://pic.twitter.com/iPJjothyvE

— NCAA Softball (@NCAAsoftball) May 15, 2017

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