Oklahoma Seeded Third In NCAA Softball Field

NORMAN, Okla. (AP) -- Big 12 Conference tournament champion Oklahoma received the overall No. 3 seed in the NCAA softball tournament on Sunday.<br/><br/>The Sooners (52-6) had hoped to be the 64-team tournament's

Sunday, May 13th 2007, 4:14 pm

By: News On 6

NORMAN, Okla. (AP) -- Big 12 Conference tournament champion Oklahoma received the overall No. 3 seed in the NCAA softball tournament on Sunday.

The Sooners (52-6) had hoped to be the 64-team tournament's overall No. 1 seed, an honor that went to perennial power Arizona (39-12-1), the defending national champion. Northwestern, which lost in last year's title series to Arizona, was the No. 2 seed with a 45-11 record.

The Sooners will not host one of the tournament's 16 double-elimination regionals. Oklahoma will travel to Amherst, Mass., for its regional, which will run from Friday through next Sunday.

The Sooners will play Patriot League tournament champion Colgate (25-22) in the opening round. Also in the four-team regional will be Northeast Conference tournament champion Long Island (33-20) or regional host Massachusetts (37-12-1), the Atlantic 10 Conference tournament winner.

If Oklahoma wins the regional, it would play in a super regional round against one of four teams -- No. 14 seed DePaul, Missouri, Southern Illinois or Mississippi Valley State.

The super regional winners will advance to the Women's College World Series in Oklahoma City from May 31 to June 6. Oklahoma has won the national softball championship once before, in 2000.

Oklahoma was one of six Big 12 teams to make this year's tournament field, joining No. 4 seed Texas A&M, No. 8 seed Baylor, Nebraska, Missouri and Texas.