May 13, 2018
2018 NCAA Championship Bracket 
| BUY TICKETS
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – For the 20th consecutive season, the University of Notre Dame softball team will compete in the NCAA postseason. The Irish earned a bid on Sunday into the Lexington Regional of the 2018 NCAA Division I Softball Championship, and will join No. 16 Kentucky, Michigan and UIC in tournament play from May 18-20 at John Cropp Stadium in Lexington, Kentucky.
A total of two Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) teams received regional invitations, with Notre Dame joined by national No. 6 seed Florida State in the NCAA Championship draw.
Notre Dame (32-21) received the number three seed in the NCAA Lexington Regional, and will face second-seeded Michigan on Friday at Noon (ET) on ESPN2 at John Cropp Stadium. Also in the region are top-seeded Kentucky and fourth-seeded UIC, who will square off in Friday’s second game at 2:30 p.m. on ESPN3.
Notre Dame has now qualified for the NCAA Championship 23 times in the past 25 seasons, reaching the regional final of the national tournament on 10 occasions. Head coach Deanna Gumpf has directed the Irish to NCAA Regional appearances in each of her 17 seasons at the helm of the program, and most recently won her 700th career game at Notre Dame with a 6-1 victory over Boston College on May 10 during the ACC tournament in Atlanta.
The 2018 NCAA Lexington Regional will mark the second time that Notre Dame has traveled to the University of Kentucky during NCAA Championship play. Along with a 2013 trip to Lexington, and serving as host in 2005 and 2015, sites Notre Dame has traveled to for NCAA Regionals have included Bloomington (1994), Ann Arbor (1995, 1996, 1999, 2000, 2003, 2004, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2016), Iowa City (2001, 2002), Evanston (2006, 2007), Tucson (2012) and Los Angeles (2014).
Kentucky (31-19) enters NCAA Championship play after losing in its first game of the Southeastern Conference (SEC) Championship tournament, 3-1 to Arkansas, in Columbia, Missouri. The Wildcats, an NCAA Women’s College World Series qualifier in 2014, have added NCAA Super Regional berths in 2011, 2013, 2015 and 2017. Kentucky owns a 3-1 record against Notre Dame all-time, with one prior meeting coming during the NCAA Championship.
Michigan (43-11) was bounced out of the first round of the Big Ten Championship tournament 7-0 by rival Michigan State in Madison, Wisconsin. The Wolverines have split their last eight games overall dating back to a 5-4 loss in nine innings at Indiana on April 28. Michigan has reached the NCAA tournament in each of the past 24 seasons, advancing past the regional round on 18 occasions while winning the 2005 NCAA Championship. Notre Dame split a pair of games with the then-No. 19/20 Wolverines in February at the Big Ten/ACC Challenge in Tallahassee, Florida, marking the second straight season the Irish have downed Michigan during the event.
UIC (33-19) won the Horizon League Championship tournament last Saturday by defeating No. 2 seed Oakland 3-1 in an if necessary game at Flames Field in Chicago. UIC makes its second straight appearance in the NCAA tournament after taking part in the NCAA Eugene Regional at Oregon in 2017. Notre Dame owns a 19-9 series edge against UIC, which has included five prior matchups in NCAA tournament play. The Irish are 3-2 against the Flames all-time in the NCAA Championship.
During its 30th varsity season in 2018, Notre Dame posted a 13-10 conference record in its fifth official campaign as an ACC member to place fifth in the regular-season conference standings before finishing as a semifinalist in last weekend’s ACC Championship. Junior Melissa Rochford and freshmen Abby Sweet and Alexis Holloway were each tabbed to the 2018 All-ACC Second Team, while Sweet and Holloway were both members of the ACC All-Freshman Team. Juniors Cait Brooks and Ali Wester were selected as part of the ACC Championship All-Tournament Team following standout performances in Atlanta.
Along with a 20th straight NCAA Championship appearance in 2018, Notre Dame has notched a winning record in each of its 30 seasons as a varsity program, joining women’s soccer as the only two Notre Dame athletics teams able to stake that claim.