National Collegiate Athletic Association

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The NCAA News -- July 5, 1999

Softball committee to research impact of regional realignment

The Division I Softball Committee will spend much of the next year examining a more even distribution of institutions sponsoring softball from region to region.

The committee, which met June 22-25 in Kansas City, Missouri, noted that the current alignment among the eight regions, which have as few as 20 teams to as many as 60, requires regional advisory committees to compare significantly different numbers of teams for the same top 10 regional rankings.

The National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) will collect information about realignment before its annual meeting in December and will report back to the committee in 2000.

Should realignment occur after the review, the committee emphasized that it would not affect the selection of at-large teams to the championship.

The NFCA also will solicit information from its members regarding the regional format used for championship play. Currently, a six-team, double-elimination bracket is used to determine the Women's College World Series qualifiers.

The committee indicated that changes would not be made to regional format for 2000, but that it will continue to monitor the current format as well as research possible changes as alternatives for the future.

In other actions, the committee during its evaluation of the 1999 championship decided to require regional sites to provide a block of 50 seats behind each dugout for fans of teams participating in a specific contest.

In addition, the committee will forward to the Division I Championships/Competition Cabinet a request to raise the minimum guarantee for regional hosts from $3,000 to $5,000 for next year. The committee also will ask to require regional sites to have field lights beginning with the 2002 championship.

Other highlights

Division I Women's Softball Committee
June 22-25/Kansas City, Missouri

  • Stipulated that game results used to evaluate regional rankings will be due to the regional advisory committee chairs by 9 a.m. on Mondays during the 2000 season. Regional evaluation calls are scheduled to be conducted on Tuesdays, and the national committee will convene via conference call on Thursday mornings to make final decisions for the regional rankings.

  • Noted the the committee is accepting bids to host the 2002, 2003 and 2004 Women's College World Series. Interested hosts should contact Chris Pohl, assistant director of championships, at the NCAA national office (913/339-1906). The committee will review presentations and bids during its annual meeting in 2000.

  • Noted that the committee will expand from six to 10 members in September. The Championships/Competition Cabinet will appoint the new members later this month.