COMPLETE TOURNAMENT BRACKET
EVANSTON, Ill. – Northwestern earned one of 32 at-large bids into the 2018 NCAA Softball Tournament Sunday night, and will head back to the Athens Region hosted by the No. 7 overall seed Georgia.
NU will open at 11 a.m. CT/noon ET Friday, May 18, on ESPNU against California, an at-large team out of the Pac-12. The host Bulldogs will play Ivy League champion Harvard in the other Athens first-round contest at 1:30 p.m. CT/2:30 p.m. ET on SEC Network.
Northwestern's veteran squad has plenty of experience at the site: the Wildcats also played in the Athens Regional in 2016. The winner of the Athens Region will advance to face the winner of the Knoxville Region hosted by No. 10 seed Tennessee.
Northwestern is making its 17th overall appearance in the NCAA Tournament and its 12th in the 17-year Drohan era. NU has advanced to the NCAA Regional final six times under the Drohans, winning its Region four times and making two trips to the Women's College World Series. NU has a 30-25 record in NCAA play in that span.
After starting the 2018 season with a 9-8 record that included seven losses to teams among the NCAA RPI top-50, NU surged to the finish line with a 27-8 record in its final 35 games entering Sunday's Big Ten Tournament championship. The Wildcats put together separate winning streaks of 10 games and nine games during that stretch.
In Big Ten play, the Wildcats earned the No. 4 seed in the conference after series victories over the likes of Minnesota, Ohio State, Nebraska, Iowa and Rutgers. During a marathon B1G Tournament that was besieged by rain, the Wildcats defeated Iowa and Michigan State to advance to the championship game for the first time since 2008, where NU fell to No. 2 overall seed Minnesota on Sunday morning.
Northwestern's complete game notes package and NCAA Tournament preview will be released later this week.
EVANSTON, Ill. – Northwestern earned one of 32 at-large bids into the 2018 NCAA Softball Tournament Sunday night, and will head back to the Athens Region hosted by the No. 7 overall seed Georgia.
NU will open at 11 a.m. CT/noon ET Friday, May 18, on ESPNU against California, an at-large team out of the Pac-12. The host Bulldogs will play Ivy League champion Harvard in the other Athens first-round contest at 1:30 p.m. CT/2:30 p.m. ET on SEC Network.
We're dancing in ATHENS!!! The #B1GCats are headed back to the #NCAASoftball tourney to face California on Friday!
— NorthwesternSoftball (@NUSBcats) May 14, 2018
Let's GO 'CATS!!!! pic.twitter.com/W4lSLXhJkl
Northwestern's veteran squad has plenty of experience at the site: the Wildcats also played in the Athens Regional in 2016. The winner of the Athens Region will advance to face the winner of the Knoxville Region hosted by No. 10 seed Tennessee.
Northwestern is making its 17th overall appearance in the NCAA Tournament and its 12th in the 17-year Drohan era. NU has advanced to the NCAA Regional final six times under the Drohans, winning its Region four times and making two trips to the Women's College World Series. NU has a 30-25 record in NCAA play in that span.
After starting the 2018 season with a 9-8 record that included seven losses to teams among the NCAA RPI top-50, NU surged to the finish line with a 27-8 record in its final 35 games entering Sunday's Big Ten Tournament championship. The Wildcats put together separate winning streaks of 10 games and nine games during that stretch.
In Big Ten play, the Wildcats earned the No. 4 seed in the conference after series victories over the likes of Minnesota, Ohio State, Nebraska, Iowa and Rutgers. During a marathon B1G Tournament that was besieged by rain, the Wildcats defeated Iowa and Michigan State to advance to the championship game for the first time since 2008, where NU fell to No. 2 overall seed Minnesota on Sunday morning.
Northwestern's complete game notes package and NCAA Tournament preview will be released later this week.