Virginia softball selected as No. 2 seed in Knoxville Regional

Photo courtesy of Virginia athletics For the third consecutive season, the Virginia Cavaliers have qualified for the NCAA Softball Tournament. Just like 2024, Joanna Hardin’s group will be sent out to the Volunteer State, where Tennessee, the national No. 7 seed, will host.

The ‘Hoos slot into the second seed of the Knoxville Regional, followed by No. 3 Indiana, and No. 4 Northern Kentucky.

In its overall structure, the softball bracket functions the same it way it always has. The 64 team field has been divided into 16 regional pods, where double elimination tournaments will create eight Super Regional best-of-three series to ultimately determine the eight College World Series participants. UVA will will battle the Hoosiers in the regional opener to set up their next contest against either the Vols or NKU, depending on first round results.

That first game is always pivotal, as an appearance in the losers bracket would require four wins to advance, whereas a 3-0 trip through the winners bracket would suffice. The subtle difference you may have noticed is that, like in volleyball and softball, the top 32 teams are now seeded instead of just the 16 regional hosts. In order to reward the nation’s top seeds with lower seeded opponents, but still consider geographic proximity and avoid same-conference matchups, the committee places the 17 to 32 national seeds into four ‘buckets’ of four.