2007 NCAA Softball Tournament Bracket in PDF Format
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May 13, 2007

EVANSTON, Ill. -- Northwestern has earned the No. 2 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament, and will host its first-round Regional for the second-consecutive year. The Wildcats have posted a 45-11 record this year to earn their best seed in program history.

Northwestern opens the tournament against Wright State, the automatic qualifier out of the Horizon League. Illinois State from the Missouri Valley and Notre Dame out of the BIG EAST round out the Evanston Regional field. The four teams will play a double-elimination tournament, with the winner advancing to a best two-out-of-three super regional for the right to go to the Women's College World Series.

The bid is Northwestern's 10th in program history and its fifth in a row. The Wildcats received a top seed for the third time in program history since the field expanded to 64 teams, and for the third year in a row after being the No. 9 seed in 2005 and the No. 4 seed in 2006.

Northwestern challenged itself with one of the toughest schedules in the nation this year, and its performance in those games certainly helped earn the high seed. The Wildcats played 30 of their 56 games this season against teams in the tournament field, compiling a 20-10 record in those contests. NU has played the 16 seeded teams 10 times, recording a 6-4 mark.

Northwestern's 45 wins are the second-most in program history and the school's most before the start of the NCAA Tournament. The Wildcats won eight NCAA Tourney games in 2006 to finish with a school-record 50 wins.

Following is the schedule for the Evanston Regional to be played Friday-Sunday, May 18-20.

Friday, May 18
Noon: Game 1 -- Notre Dame vs. Illinois State
2:30 p.m.: Game 2 -- Northwestern vs. Wright State

Saturday, May 19
11 a.m.: Game 3 -- Winner Game 1 vs. Winner Game 2
1:30 p.m.: Game 4 -- Loser Game 1 vs. Loser Game 2
4 p.m.: Game 5 -- Winner Game 4 vs. Loser Game 3

Sunday, May 20
Noon: Game 6 -- Winner Game 3 vs. Winner Game 5
2:30 p.m.: Game 7 -- Winner Game 6 vs. Loser Game 6 (if necessary).