INDIANAPOLIS---The NCAA Division I Softball Committee has selected the 64 teams that will compete in the championship.

Eight teams will participate at each of eight regional sites in a double-elimination tournament. Eight teams will be seeded and each of the seeded teams will be placed at one of the regional sites. The regional winners advance to the Women's College World Series (WCWS), an eight-team, double-elimination tournament. (Note: The championship final is a single-game final.) Regionals will be conducted May 20-23. The WCWS will be conducted May 27-31 at ASA Hall of Fame Stadium in Oklahoma City.

The NCAA Division I Softball Committee selected teams from the following eight regions to participate in the championship: Central, East, Northeast, South, Mideast, Midwest, West and Pacific. Twenty-seven conferences were granted automatic qualification for the 2004 championship.

The top eight teams were seeded in order. The remainder of the teams were placed in regional brackets to create balanced competition and avoid conference match ups when possible. Teams hosting regionals, which were named two weeks prior to team selections, were not guaranteed a bid to the championship.

The dates, sites and pairings are as follows:

DATES/SITES/PAIRINGS:

* Indicates host institution

Region No. 1 - May 20-23 at Tucson, Arizona * No. 1 seed Arizona (53-4) No. 2 seed Oklahoma (39-19-1) No. 3 seed Northwestern (32-18) No. 4 seed South Carolina (27-22) No. 5 seed Louisiana-Lafayette (55-6) No. 6 seed UC Santa Barbara (32-29) No. 7 seed Temple (29-16) No. 8 seed Centenary (Louisiana) (35-28) Region No. 2 - May 20-23 at Los Angeles * No. 1 seed UCLA (39-9) No. 2 seed Alabama (42-18) No. 3 seed Long Beach State (48-11) No. 4 seed Louisville (40-17) No. 5 seed Missouri (27-24) No. 6 seed Cornell (39-11) No. 7 seed Central Michigan (32-17) No. 8 seed Mississippi Valley (31-13) Region No. 3 - May 20-23 at Waco, Texas No. 1 seed LSU (50-10) No. 2 seed Illinois (41-19-1) * No. 3 seed Baylor (45-14) No. 4 seed Seton Hall (44-17) No. 5 seed Houston (38-22) No. 6 seed North Carolina (43-20) No. 7 seed Texas-San Antonio (37-15) No. 8 seed Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (39-19) Region No. 4 - May 20-23 at Tallahassee, Florida * No. 1 seed Florida State (40-18) No. 2 seed Oregon (38-19) No. 3 seed South Florida (57-12) No. 4 seed Florida (40-18) No. 5 seed Cal State Northridge (33-17) No. 6 seed Ohio State (34-23) No. 7 seed Bethune-Cookman (44-26) No. 8 seed Long Island (27-26) Region No. 5 - May 20-23 at Lincoln, Nebraska No. 1 seed California (46-11) * No. 2 seed Nebraska (40-15) No. 3 seed Florida Atlantic (54-16) No. 4 seed Mississippi State (38-24) No. 5 seed Iowa (36-22) No. 6 seed Creighton (39-15-1) No. 7 seed Lehigh (40-15-2) No. 8 seed Maine (27-21) Region No. 6 - May 20-23 at Ann Arbor, Michigan * No. 1 seed Michigan (50-10) No. 2 seed Tennessee (53-14) No. 3 seed Oregon State (40-26) No. 4 seed Notre Dame (48-18) No. 5 seed DePaul (29-29-1) No. 6 seed Bowling Green (34-28) No. 7 seed Illinois-Chicago (38-21) No. 8 seed Canisius (23-28) Region No. 7 - May 20-23 at Stanford, California * No. 1 seed Stanford (43-16) No. 2 seed Auburn (42-15) No. 3 seed Fresno State (47-18) No. 4 seed Pacific (California) (34-21) No. 5 seed Southern Mississippi (32-24) No. 6 seed Southern Illinois (42-15) No. 7 seed Hofstra (34-19) No. 8 seed Utah (23-31) Region No. 8 - May 20-23 at Athens, Georgia No. 1 seed Washington (36-17) * No. 2 seed Georgia (51-14) No. 3 seed Georgia Tech (45-16) No. 4 seed Texas A&M (32-20) No. 5 seed Michigan State (33-23) No. 6 seed Massachusetts (33-15) No. 7 seed Eastern Kentucky (41-15) No. 8 seed Chattanooga (45-23) *Host institution. 

Teams advancing to the Women's College World Series (WCWS), May 27-31 at ASA Hall of Fame Stadium in Oklahoma City will advance into the WCWS bracket according to the overall regional seeding (i.e., regional No. 1 winner will be seed No.1).

CONFERENCES RECEIVING AUTOMATIC QUALIFICATION:

America East Conference - Maine Atlantic Sun Conference - Florida Atlantic Atlantic 10 Conference - Temple Big East Conference - Seton Hall Big South Conference - Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Big Ten Conference - Michigan State Big Twelve Conference - Nebraska Big West Conference - Long Beach State Colonial Athletic -Hofstra Conference USA - DePaul Horizon League - Illinois-Chicago Ivy Group - Cornell Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference - Canisuis Mid-American Conference - Bowling Green Mid-Continent Conference - Centenary Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference - Bethune-Cookman Missouri Valley Conference - Creighton Mountain West - Utah Northeast Conference -Long Island Ohio Valley - Eastern Kentucky Pacific-10 Conference - Arizona Patriot League - Lehigh Southeastern Conference - LSU Southern Conference - Chattanooga Southland Conference - Texas-San Antonio Southwestern Athletic Conference - Mississippi Valley Western Athletic Conference - Fresno State Regional games from the UCLA and Arizona sites will receive the following television coverage (all times are Eastern): Los Angeles Game No. 7 Friday, May 21 ESPN 3 p.m. Game No. 11 Saturday, May 22 ESPN 4 p.m. Game No. 14 Sunday, May 23 ESPN 4 p.m. Tuscon, Arizona Game No. 11 Saturday, May 22 CSTV 2:30 p.m. Game No. 12 Saturday, May 22 CSTV 5 p.m. Game No. 13 Saturday, May 22 CSTV 8 p.m. Game No. 14 Sunday, May 23 CSTV 4 p.m. Game No. 15 Sunday, May 23 CSTV 6:30 p.m. WCWS TV COVERAGE: Day Date Game Time (ET)* Network Thursday 5/27/04 1 Noon ESPN Thursday 5/27/04 2 2:30 p.m. ESPN Thursday 5/27/04 3 7 p.m. ESPN2 Thursday 5/27/04 4 9:30 p.m. ESPN2 Friday 5/28/04 5 3 p.m. ESPN Friday 5/28/04 6 7 p.m. ESPN2 Saturday 5/29/04 7 Noon ESPN Saturday 5/29/04 8 4 p.m. ESPN2 Saturday 5/29/04 9 6:30 p.m. ESPN Saturday 5/29/04 10 9 p.m. ESPN Sunday 5/30/04 11 1 p.m. ESPN Sunday 5/30/04 12 3:30 p.m. ESPN Sunday 5/30/04 13 (if needed) 6 p.m. ESPN2 Sunday 5/30/04 14 (if needed) 11 p.m. (Tape delay) ESPN2 Monday 5/31/04 Final 8 p.m. ESPN 

CHAMPIONSHIP NOTES: 2003 Highlights-The UCLA seniors were going to make school history one way or another May 26, 2003, in the Division I Softball Championship game.

The four Bruins, playing the final game of their career, either would become the first class in UCLA history not to win a title on the field or become the first team since Texas A&M in 1983 to lose its first game of the tournament then rally for the title. Rally they did.

Riding junior pitcher Keira Goerl's no-hitter, the Bruins outlasted defending national champion California for a 1-0 victory in nine innings.

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