FAYETTEVILLE — Bogle Park will once again be the site of postseason softball.
Arkansas (36-16) was announced Sunday night as the No. 12 national seed and will host Arizona, Villanova and Southeast Missouri State at the double-elimination NCAA Fayetteville Regional.
It is the fourth consecutive season Arkansas has been selected as a regional host. There will be no shortage of familiarity for the Razorbacks against their opposition.
Arkansas will open with a game against the regional’s fourth-seeded team Southeast Missouri State (28-24) on Friday at 7:30 p.m. on ESPN+. SEMO was champion of the Ohio Valley Conference.
The Razorbacks defeated SEMO twice — 5-0 and 6-5 (8 innings) — in the Wooo Pig Classic earlier this season.
Arizona (34-16-1), the regional’s second-seeded team, hosted the Razorbacks at the Bear Down Fiesta in February. The Razorbacks and Wildcats split a pair of games, both by a 3-2 score.
Arizona will play Villanova (31-22), the Big East Tournament champions, in the regional opener at 5 p.m. on ESPN+.
The regional’s winner will be paired against the Stillwater Regional winner, which is hosted by No. 5 overall seed Oklahoma State and also includes Kentucky, Michigan and Northern Colorado.
Should Oklahoma State (44-10) win its regional, the Cowgirls would host the Fayetteville Regional winner.
It is the Razorbacks’ seventh consecutive NCAA Tournament berth under ninth-year coach Courtney Deifel, which exceeds the program’s six total appearance prior to her tenure.
Arkansas had not hosted a regional prior to Deifel taking over in 2015, but has hosted five since 2018.
The SEC led all conferences with 8 host teams, and all 13 teams in the conference made the 64 team-field. Vanderbilt does not sponsor softball.
Arkansas was joined by No. 3 national seed Tennessee, No. 4 Florida, No. 7 Missouri, No. 9 LSU, No. 11 Georgia, No. 14 Alabama and No. 16 Texas A&M as regional hosts from the SEC.
Texas and Oklahoma, which will join the SEC next year, are the Nos. 1 and 2 national seeds.
Other national seeds are Oklahoma State, UCLA (6), Stanford (8), Duke (10), Louisiana-Lafayette (13) and Florida State (15).
