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It turns out the road to the Women’s College World Series indeed will run through Tucson for the Arizona Wildcats.
Arizona (42-12) will be the No. 6 overall seed in the NCAA softball tournament, it was announced Sunday night, and as a result will host both a regional and Super Regional if it is still alive after the first weekend.
The road to OKC runs through Tucson!
— Arizona Softball (@ArizonaSoftball) May 13, 2019
We'll see you Friday night #BearDown pic.twitter.com/6r7qUXCzVp
The Wildcats will open NCAA play Friday at 8:30 p.m. PT against Harvard (25-17), while Auburn (37-19) and Colorado State (38-10) will meet at 6 p.m. Friday in the other opening-round game at Rita Hillenbrand Stadium. The double elimination tournament runs through Sunday.
If it moves on, Arizona would be in line to host a best-of-three Super Regional series against the winner of the regional hosted by No. 11 Ole Miss. The winner of that would move on to Oklahoma City.
Arizona is making its 33rd consecutive NCAA tourney appearance, extending its own national record, and has reached at least the Super Regional round ever year since 2014, but the Wildcats’ last WCWS trip came in 2010.
The Wildcats were one of five Pac-12 teams to make the field, with No. 2 UCLA and No. 3 Washington also hosting regional sites.