AUSTIN (KXAN) — Texas will be in the friendly confines of McCombs Field until the Women’s College World Series after earning a top-eight national seed in the NCAA softball tournament.
The Longhorns are the No. 6 seed, the selection committee announced Sunday, and they’ll open play at 3:30 p.m. Friday against Eastern Illinois (34-20). Central Florida and Michigan are the other teams playing in the Austin regional. The regional tournament format is double-elimination, with the winner advancing to a best-of-3 super regional round before the WCWS.
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Eastern Illinois won the Ohio Valley Conference regular season and tournament championships, finishing 21-5 in conference play and beating Southern Illinois-Edwardsville 1-0 for the tournament title.
Michigan comes into Austin as one of the hottest teams with a Big 10 Conference tournament championship and six consecutive wins. The Wolverines were seeded eighth in their conference tournament and beat No. 1 Oregon and No. 2 UCLA on their way to the conference’s automatic bid.
If the Longhorns make it through the regional, they’re matched up with No. 11 seed Clemson for a super regional at McCombs Field. South Carolina Upstate, Northwestern and Kentucky are playing in the Clemson regional.
The Longhorns finished the regular season 46-10 and 16-8 in the Southeastern Conference, but 4-4 in their last eight games after getting crushed by Texas A&M 14-2 in the SEC tournament semifinals.
The Aggies are the No. 1 overall seed in the tournament. They’ll start the postseason against Saint Francis. Marist and Liberty will also be at the Bryan-College Station regional.
