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SAN FRANCISCO — Six Pac-12 softball programs, including four national seeds, are headed to the 2023 NCAA Division I Softball Championship, as announced by the NCAA Division I Softball Committee on Sunday evening. 

The Regionals for the Championship will be held during May 19-21 on 16 campus sites, where a four-team, double-elimination tournament will be conducted and 16 teams will advance to the Super Regionals to be held May 25-28. Eight Super Regional winners will advance to the Women's College World Series to take place between June 1-8/9 in Oklahoma City, Okla. Thirty-two teams received automatic qualification to the tournament, while 32 programs were selected as at-large bids by the Division I Softball Committee.

UCLA (52-5), the Conference's regular-season champion, enters the postseason as the No. 2 overall seed and one of 16 national seeds in the field of 64 teams. The Bruins are making their 24th consecutive NCAA appearance and will host the WAC champions Grand Canyon (46-11) to start their Los Angeles Regional, which will also feature San Diego State (35-15) and Liberty (38-20). UCLA, which advanced to the championship game at the inaugural Pac-12 Softball Tournament, leads the nation in NCAA titles (12) and NCAA Tournament wins (242).

Washington (38-12) earned the No. 7 overall seed and will host the Seattle Regional, starting against Big Sky champions Northern Colorado (26-21), along with McNeese (44-14) and Minnesota (37-17). Making their 29th consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance, the Huskies have the fourth-most NCAA Tournament wins all-time (128) and fourth-most WCWS appearances (14). UW has been a national seed and hosted a regional in each NCAA Tournament since 2016.

Stanford (40-13) will be the No. 9 overall seed in the Stanford Regional. The Cardinal's regional will feature the Big West champions Long Beach State (31-21), along with Loyola Marymount (27-20) and Florida (36-20). In the postseason for the fourth consecutive tournament following the program's first 40-win season since 2012, the Cardinal is a national seed for the first time since 2011 (No. 15) and has its highest seed since 2009 (No. 8).

The No. 15 overall seed, Utah (37-13) is back in the postseason field for the first time since 2017 sporting its best record through 50 games since 1994 (41-9). The Utes received the Conference's automatic berth after winning the inaugural Pac-12 Softball Tournament and will host the Salt Lake City Regional for their 17th all-time NCAA Tournament appearance and take on Missouri Valley champions Southern Illinois (36-18), a regional that also features Ole Miss (30-26) and Baylor (39-16).

Oregon (35-15) will take on Notre Dame (29-17-1) in the Fayetteville Regional, which also has hosts No. 11 Arkansas (38-17) and Harvard (29-15-1). The Ducks are in the field for the 23rd time and third in a row, and will be going for their first Super Regional and WCWS appearances since 2018.

California (33-19-1) earned its 34th NCAA Tournament appearance and first since 2018 with an at-large bid. The Golden Bears will head to the Normal Regional to take on Missouri (34-24). Hosts and No. 1 Oklahoma (51-1) and Hofstra (29-25) are the other teams in Norman.

The nation’s most successful softball conference, Pac-12 programs have combined to win 24 of the 40 NCAA softball championships all-time, 18 more than the next closest league, and all nine Pac-12 teams have made appearances in the Women’s College World Series. Of the 13 different programs to have won an NCAA softball championship, five are from the Pac-12: UCLA (12), Arizona (8), Arizona State (2), California (1) and Washington (1).