2016 NCAA Division I softball tournament


The 2016 NCAA Division I softball tournament was held from May 20 through June 8, 2016 as the final part of the NCAA Division I softball season. The 64 NCAA Division I college softball teams were to be selected out of an eligible 293 teams on May 15, 2016. Thirty-two teams were awarded an automatic bid as champions of their conference, and thirty-two teams were selected at-large by the NCAA Division I softball selection committee. The tournament culminated with eight teams playing in the 2016 Women's College World Series at ASA Hall of Fame Stadium in Oklahoma City in which the Oklahoma Sooners were crowned the champions.

Automatic bids

The Big 12, Big West, Mountain West, Pac-12, and West Coast Conference bids were awarded to the regular season champion. All other conferences have the automatic bid go to the conference tournament winner.
ConferenceSchoolBest finishReference
America EastRegionals
AmericanRegionals
ACCWCWS
A-10Regionals
A-SunRegionals
Big 12[2016 2016 Oklahoma Sooners softball team|Oklahoma Sooners softball team|Oklahoma]1st
,
Big East1st Appearance
Big SkyRegionals
Big SouthRegionals
Big TenWCWS
1976, 1978
Big West1st
ColonialRegionals
Conference USARegionals
Horizon LeagueRegionals
Ivy LeagueWCWS
,
MACRegionals
MAACRegionals
MEACRegionals
MVCRegionals
Mountain West1st
NortheasternRegionals
OVCSuper Regionals
Pac-123rd
Patriot LeagueRegionals
SEC[2016 2016 Auburn Tigers softball team|Auburn Tigers softball team|Auburn]4th
SoCon1st Appearance
SouthlandRegionals
SWAC1st Appearance
Summit LeagueSuper Regionals
Sun BeltLouisiana–LafayetteWCWS
WAC1st Appearance
WCCBYUSuper Regionals

National seeds

16 National Seeds were announced on the Selection Show Sunday, May 15 at 10 p.m. EDT on ESPNU. The 16 national seeds hosted the Regionals. Teams in italics advanced to Super Regionals. Teams in bold advanced to Women's College World Series.
1. '

2. '

3. Oklahoma

4. Auburn

5. '

6. Alabama

7. '

8. '
9.

10. '

11. '

12. '

13.

14. Louisiana–Lafayette

15.

16. ''''''

Regionals and Super Regionals

The Regionals took place May 19–22. The Columbia regional took place May 19–21 because of BYU's no Sunday-play policy. All other regionals occurred May 20–22. The Super Regionals took place from May 26–29.

Women's College World Series

The Women's College World Series was held June 2 through June 8, 2016, in Oklahoma City.

Bracket


Record by conference

The columns RF, SR, WS, NS, CS, and NC respectively stand for the Regional Finals, Super Regionals, College World Series Teams, National Semi-Finals, Championship Series, and National Champion.

Media coverage

Radio

Westwood One provided nationwide radio coverage of the championship series. It was streamed online at westwoodsports.com and through TuneIn. Kevin Kugler and Leah Amico provided the call for Westwood One.

Television

ESPN holds exclusive rights to the tournament. They aired games across ESPN, ESPN2, and ESPNU. Select regionals and super-regionals were broadcast on additional ESPN stations like SEC Network, ESPN3, SEC Network Plus, and Longhorn Network. Any regionals not picked up by ESPN were streamed online by the host institution or broadcast by their television partners.

Broadcast assignments

Regionals
Tyler Denning & Megan Willis '
Super Regionals
Women's College World Series