College softball is softball as played on the intercollegiate level at institutions of higher education, predominantly in the United States. College softball is normally played by women at the Intercollegiate level, whereas college baseball is normally played by men.
As with other intercollegiate sports, most college softball in the United States is played under the auspices of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) or the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA). Over 600 NCAA member colleges are sponsors of women's softball programs. The women's softball championships are held in Division I, Division II, and Division III. The NCAA writes the rules of play, while each sanctioning body supervises season-ending tournaments.
Franklin High School junior team of Seattle, in 1914
Softball was sanctioned at collegiate level in 1910.[2][1] The first first-ever WCWS was held in 1969 in Omaha, Nebraska, sponsored by the Amateur Softball Association and the Division of Girls' and Women's Sports.[3][4] The first under NCAA auspices was held in 1982.[5] The tournament now starts with 64 teams from 16 different regions that compete in a double-elimination regional round. The sixteen winners then enter a 'super regional', usually held at the higher seed's home ground, for a best-of-three series. The eight winners then enter a modified double-elimination tournament to determine which team is the national champion. Instead of being a 'true' double-elimination tournament, the tournament is split up so there are two brackets, though the losers switch brackets. The winners of each of the brackets move onto a best-of-three championship. The tournament is largely dominated by Pac-12 Conference teams, who have combined to win 21 of the 27 NCAA Division I championships through 2008, including 10 wins from the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) and 8 from the University of Arizona. Lately the University of Oklahoma has dominated NCAA softball, winning 6 of the past 8 championships through 2024.
The National Junior College Athletic Association was founded on May 14, 1938,[9] and includes competition among junior college softball programs. Within the NJCAA there are Divisions I, II, and III, which are further divided into regions and conferences. At the Division I level, there are 19 regions; at the Division II level, 18 regions; and at the Division III level, 9 regions. Every year at the end of the regional championships, national tournaments are conducted. The Division I tournament is held in St. George, Utah; the Division II tournament, in Clinton, Mississippi; and the Division III tournament, in Rochester, Minnesota.
^Mary L. Littlewood (1998). Women's Fastpitch Softball - The Path to the Gold, An Historical Look at Women's Fastpitch in the United States (first ed.). National Fastpitch Coaches Association, Columbia, Missouri. pp. 145, 208. ISBN0-9664310-0-6.
^Plummer, William; Floyd, Larry C. (2013). A Series Of Their Own: History Of The Women's College World Series. Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, United States: Turnkey Communications Inc. ISBN978-0-9893007-0-4.
