Six Big Ten Softball Programs Earn Postseason Berths

ROSEMONT, Ill. (May 13, 2023) – The Big Ten Conference will send six of its softball programs to postseason play, as the brackets for the NCAA Tournament and the National Invitational Softball Championship (NISC) were released Sunday night.
 
Four Big Ten schools will compete in the NCAA Tournament, led by Northwestern, which earned the No. 12 national seed and will play host to a regional this weekend. Also representing the Big Ten in this year’s NCAA Tournament will be Indiana, Minnesota and Nebraska.
 
Two other Big Ten teams received bids to the fifth annual NISC, an eight-team tournament that is held in Fort Collins, Colorado, and is run by Triple Crown Sports. Iowa and Maryland will be the Big Ten representatives in this year’s NISC.
 
Indiana (42-16) will compete in its ninth NCAA Tournament, earning a berth for the first time since 2011. The Hoosiers, who have advanced to the NCAA Women’s College World Series twice in their history and finished third in 1986, will head to the Knoxville (Tenn.) Regional and begin their postseason slate against Louisville at 3 p.m. (ET) Friday live on ESPN2.
 
Minnesota (37-17) secured an NCAA Tournament berth for the 10th consecutive season and the 17th time in program history. The Golden Gophers, who reached the Women’s College World Series in 2019, will start this year’s tournament at the Seattle Regional with a first-round contest against McNeese at 6:30 p.m. (ET) Friday live on ESPN+.
 
Nebraska (34-20) will make its 26th NCAA Tournament appearance overall and second in as many seasons. The Huskers, who have advanced to the Women’s College World Series seven times and finished in third place in both 1984 and 1987, will return to the Stillwater (Okla.) Regional where they will open against Wichita State at 7 p.m. (ET) Friday live on ESPNU.
 
Northwestern (38-11), which swept the Big Ten title and tournament championship this year, earned a top-16 national seed for the second consecutive season and the right to host an NCAA regional for the third time in four seasons (No. 16 seed in 2019, No. 9 seed last year). NU will be competing in the NCAA Tournament for the ninth time in 11 seasons and the 21st time in program history, having advanced to its sixth Women’s College World Series last year. The Wildcats will start their latest postseason run at 3:30 p.m. (ET) by welcoming Eastern Illinois to Sharon J. Drysdale Field for a first-round Evanston Regional matchup that will be televised live on ESPN+.
 
The 64-team NCAA Tournament field is divided into 16, four-team double-elimination regionals, which begin Friday. The 16 regional winners advance to best-of-three super regionals (to be played May 25-28 on the campus of the higher-seeded school), with the eight remaining schools competing June 1-8 (or 9) in the NCAA Women's College World Series at USA Softball Hall of Fame Stadium in Oklahoma City.
 
Meanwhile, Iowa (31-27) secured its 17th postseason bid and first since qualifying for the 2009 NCAA Tournament. Making their first NISC appearance, the Hawkeyes are the No. 2 seed in this year’s tournament and will face UC Davis in the opening round at noon (ET) Thursday at Horsetooth Field in Fort Collins, Colorado.
 
Maryland (36-17) is the No. 1 seed for this year’s NISC, capturing its fifth postseason berth and first since a stretch of three consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances from 2010-12. Also making their first trip to the NISC, the Terrapins open against CSUN at noon (ET) Thursday at Red Rocks Field in Fort Collins.
 
The NISC is divided into two four-team pods, playing a double-elimination slate on Thursday and Friday. The remaining teams after Friday’s games will advance to a single-elimination championship bracket, to be played Saturday. All NISC games will be streamed live on the subscription service, FloSoftball.
 
Big Ten Conference (bigten.org) is an association of world-class universities whose member institutions share a common mission of research, graduate, professional and undergraduate teaching, and public service. Founded in 1896, Big Ten Conference has sustained a comprehensive set of shared practices and policies that enforce the priority of academics in the lives of students competing in intercollegiate athletics and emphasize the values of integrity, fairness, and competitiveness. The broad-based programs of the 14 Big Ten Conference institutions will provide over $200 million in direct financial support to more than 9,800 students for more than 11,000 participation opportunities on 350 teams in 42 different sports. Big Ten Conference sponsors 28 official conference sports, 14 for men and 14 for women, including the addition of men’s ice hockey and men’s and women’s lacrosse since 2013.