NCAA Division I softball tournament

The NCAA Division I softball tournament is held annually in May/June and features 64 college softball teams in the United States, culminating in the Women's College World Series (WCWS), which is played in Oklahoma City.

Tournament play and team selection
The tournament is different from many college tournaments in that it features four tiers of competition and a loss does not necessarily eliminate a team from contention. In fact, throughout the entire tournament a team can lose as many as four games and still be crowned champions.

A total of 64 teams compete in the tournament. 32 teams gain automatic entry into the tournament while the other 32 are selected by the Division I Softball committee. From this field of 64, 16 teams will be given "national seeds" and placed at one of the assigned regional sites, often the home field of each national seed.

The first round of the tournament, called "regionals", consists of 16 locations that include four teams competing in a double elimination bracket. The winner of each regional moves on to the second round, the "super regionals."

For the super regionals, the regional containing overall #1 seed will be matched up with the regional containing the overall #16 seed, the #2 seed regional will be matched up with the #15 seed regional, and so on. The higher seed of the two teams usually hosts the best-of-three series, with the winner moving on to the Women's College World Series.

The final eight teams meet at USA Softball Hall of Fame Stadium in Oklahoma City in the Women's College World Series. The WCWS is further divided into two sections. The first part resembles the regional round, as teams are broken in two groups of four to play in a double-elimination bracket. The winners of each bracket then meet in a championship series similar to the super regional tier in that it is a best-of-three series. The winner of the WCWS is crowned national champion.

Appearances by team
Total Columns
 * School refers to the current name and branding of the softball team.
 * Conference shows where the school as of the 2024 season.
 * Total appearances in the NCAA Tournament, not counting vacated appearances.
 * Finished in the top 16 of the tournament: top 2 in a Regional (1982 through 2004) or won a Regional (2005 to present).
 * Total appearances in the College World Series
 * National Championships

Table Entries
 * National Champion
 * National Runner-up
 * Played in the College World Series with the given placement. All World Series have had 2 teams finish in 5th and two teams finish in 7th. Since 1995, all have had 2 teams finish in 3rd, but before then, some years would have separate 3rd and 4th place teams, depending on how the bracket played out.

1982 to 2004
 * Regional tournaments consisted of 2 to 8 teams in double elimination brackets. Depending on how the tournament played out, there could be two teams tying for 3rd, 5th, or 7th place.
 * 2nd place in Regional tournament
 * 3rd place in Regional tournament
 * 4th place in Regional tournament
 * 5th or 6th place in Regional tournament
 * 7th or 8th place in Regional tournament (only 2003 and 2004)

2005 to present
 * All regional tournaments consist of 4-team double elimination brackets, with distinct placements for every team. The 16 Regional winners faced off in Super Regionals, with 8 winners advancing to the College World Series.
 * Lost in the Super Regionals
 * 2nd place in Regional tournament
 * 3rd place in Regional tournament
 * 4th place in Regional tournament

Starting in 2003, the NCAA seeded the top 8 teams, which are shown in. Starting in 2005, the next 8 seeds are shown with single underline. These seeded teams are not always the host of the Regional, but in recent years, the list of hosts aligns very closely to the list of top seeds.