Important Dates:
Selection Night - Sunday, May 13th (after the NCAA selection show)
Regionals – Wednesday, May 16th-Friday, May 18th* (May 19th inclement weather day)
Championship Round – Wednesday, May 23rd-Saturday, May 26th* (May 27th inclement weather day)
Event Fundamentals:
Selection Day: May 13th – a few hours after NCAA selections
Format:
Regionals (4-8 nationwide) with a varied number of teams in each double-elimination tournament
Tournament History:
The 2017 Postseason National Invitational Softball Championship featured 26 teams in a double-elimination championship format.
Tournament Format:
The Postseason National Invitational Softball Championship is an annual event for women's NCAA Division I softball involving 24-32 teams in a two-round double-elimination format. All NISC games are played at the home facility or an acceptable alternate facility of host schools.
Tournament Jurisdiction:
The National Invitational Softball Championship is operated, supervised and directed by Triple Crown Sports, a sports event company based in Fort Collins, Colorado.
Selection and Bracketing Process:
The NISC committee uses three stages in this order to implement the final bracket: 1) Select teams; 2) Group teams according to team strength and region; and 3) Bracket the selected teams.
Selection Procedures/Selection Day:
The NISC committee will choose 24-32 teams for the Postseason NISC. The field will offer 32 automatic berths – one from each established conference (some conferences may decline berth) and at-large teams. The intention of the NISC Selection Committee is to select the best available teams in the nation, regardless of conference affiliation or geographical location.The field will be announced late Sunday, May 13. All information will be disseminated via the website at www.womensnisc.com that night, after the NCAA bracket is announced.
Selecting Teams:
Automatic Berths
Thirty-two (32) spots in the Postseason NISC will be offered and/or filled automatically by the best team available in each of the nation’s 32 conferences, AFTER the NCAA Tournament committee makes its picks.
Selecting Teams:
At-large Berths
After the automatic berths have been offered, the remaining spots in the Postseason NISC will be filled by the top teams available. Any team from a Division I conference, or a Division I independent team, shall be considered. Any team considered for an at-large berth must have an overall record of .500 or better or top 150 final RPI. Overall record includes conference tournament games.
After the NISC committee chooses the field of teams adhering to the above-mentioned selection process, the teams will be grouped into regions of 4-8 teams by drive radius for Regionals. Regional winners will advance to the Championship Round.
The Bracket Process:
Bracket guidelines
Host Site Selection:
Site selection for all tournament games is the sole authority and decision of the NISC.
Schools wishing to host:
1. A host budget form is required of all institutions that desire to host tournament games.
2. The host budget form is an Excel spreadsheet budget detailing game gate receipts and expenses. It must be filled out by an athletic department official with signing authority, and faxed or emailed to the NISC.
3. Initial budget forms are not considered last and final.
4. Improved budget forms may be submitted at any time prior to the announcement of the site selection for each round.
Factors in Host Site Selection:
Determination of host sites shall be based upon several factors, among other criteria that the NISC committee deems relevant:
• Attendance history (actual earlier round game numbers can be used in evaluating later round game sites)
• Drive radius centrally to 2-8 team regional
• Host guaranteed amount/budget form
• Team travel expenses to a site/hotel availability
• Strength of teams
• Exciting women’s softball atmosphere
• Availability and size of facility
• Game expenses associated with using the facility
• Ticket prices
• Gate revenue potential above host guarantee
• Host school’s ability to release TV rights
• School’s commitment to hosting more rounds in the tournament
• School vacation periods
• Other local events occurring at the same time
• TV appeal/presence/expenses/revenues
Selection Night - Sunday, May 13th (after the NCAA selection show)
Regionals – Wednesday, May 16th-Friday, May 18th* (May 19th inclement weather day)
Championship Round – Wednesday, May 23rd-Saturday, May 26th* (May 27th inclement weather day)
Event Fundamentals:
Selection Day: May 13th – a few hours after NCAA selections
- 24-32 teams will be selected
- Offered to 32 automatic qualifiers (next team from each conference not selected through NCAA criteria)
- At-large qualifiers as needed (selections based on RPI/win-loss record of .500 or better/record vs. top 50 RPI)
Format:
Regionals (4-8 nationwide) with a varied number of teams in each double-elimination tournament
- Played over three days; teams placed in drive-radius regions when possible
- Regional champions advance to final double-elimination event played over four days
Tournament History:
The 2017 Postseason National Invitational Softball Championship featured 26 teams in a double-elimination championship format.
Tournament Format:
The Postseason National Invitational Softball Championship is an annual event for women's NCAA Division I softball involving 24-32 teams in a two-round double-elimination format. All NISC games are played at the home facility or an acceptable alternate facility of host schools.
Tournament Jurisdiction:
The National Invitational Softball Championship is operated, supervised and directed by Triple Crown Sports, a sports event company based in Fort Collins, Colorado.
Selection and Bracketing Process:
The NISC committee uses three stages in this order to implement the final bracket: 1) Select teams; 2) Group teams according to team strength and region; and 3) Bracket the selected teams.
Selection Procedures/Selection Day:
The NISC committee will choose 24-32 teams for the Postseason NISC. The field will offer 32 automatic berths – one from each established conference (some conferences may decline berth) and at-large teams. The intention of the NISC Selection Committee is to select the best available teams in the nation, regardless of conference affiliation or geographical location.The field will be announced late Sunday, May 13. All information will be disseminated via the website at www.womensnisc.com that night, after the NCAA bracket is announced.
Selecting Teams:
Automatic Berths
Thirty-two (32) spots in the Postseason NISC will be offered and/or filled automatically by the best team available in each of the nation’s 32 conferences, AFTER the NCAA Tournament committee makes its picks.
- A team that is offered an automatic berth by the NISC shall be the team that is a.) The highest-finishing team in its conference’s regular-season standings, and b.) is then not selected for the NCAA Tournament. It does not matter what the team’s overall record is. For the automatic qualifying berth, the NISC believes that a team’s conference record is a more fair comparison among teams within their own conference, and that the conference record should pre-empt overall records among teams from the same conference. The automatic qualifying team is rewarded with the AQ spot for its in-conference play, pre-determined by the conference.
- Should a conference’s automatic qualifier team decline the NISC invitation, it will be allowed one pass down berth based on the next seeded conference team. No RPI contingency. This is a one-time pass down.
- In the event of a tie among teams under consideration for the NISC automatic berth, the NISC will abide by conference bylaws that have been set up specifically to address a tiebreaking situation in that specific conference.
- In the event of a tie among teams with identical conference records and there are no specific conference bylaws to address it, the NISC will recognize the conference tiebreaker, and select the team with the best seed from its conference tournament.
- Multiple-division conferences receive one NISC automatic berth. The qualifying process is the same as that for single-division conferences. However, if a conference designates more than one top seed (i.e. a No. 1 seed for each division), then the conference office shall determine, before its conference tournament begins, a seeding order for NISC purposes.
Selecting Teams:
At-large Berths
After the automatic berths have been offered, the remaining spots in the Postseason NISC will be filled by the top teams available. Any team from a Division I conference, or a Division I independent team, shall be considered. Any team considered for an at-large berth must have an overall record of .500 or better or top 150 final RPI. Overall record includes conference tournament games.
- The NISC committee will use the NCAA Softball Final RPI, win/loss record, last 10 games played, key injuries or additions, consideration of teams with 30+ wins, and other pertinent information gathered on all considered teams, to select At-Large berths.
After the NISC committee chooses the field of teams adhering to the above-mentioned selection process, the teams will be grouped into regions of 4-8 teams by drive radius for Regionals. Regional winners will advance to the Championship Round.
The Bracket Process:
Bracket guidelines
- First-round regional pairings will be determined initially on team RPI (i.e. a top tier team plays a bottom tier team; a middle tier team plays a middle tier team)
- Teams from the same conference will not meet in the first round.
- Factors can preclude teams from being placed in their natural grouping when it comes to bracketing. These factors include travel constraints, school location, facility availability, lodging constraints, previous games against NISC opponents, etc.
- The committee strives to achieve competitive balance within each region of the bracket, as well as to try to limit teams’ travel days.
- Host teams will get preferred game time slots.
Host Site Selection:
Site selection for all tournament games is the sole authority and decision of the NISC.
Schools wishing to host:
1. A host budget form is required of all institutions that desire to host tournament games.
2. The host budget form is an Excel spreadsheet budget detailing game gate receipts and expenses. It must be filled out by an athletic department official with signing authority, and faxed or emailed to the NISC.
3. Initial budget forms are not considered last and final.
4. Improved budget forms may be submitted at any time prior to the announcement of the site selection for each round.
Factors in Host Site Selection:
Determination of host sites shall be based upon several factors, among other criteria that the NISC committee deems relevant:
• Attendance history (actual earlier round game numbers can be used in evaluating later round game sites)
• Drive radius centrally to 2-8 team regional
• Host guaranteed amount/budget form
• Team travel expenses to a site/hotel availability
• Strength of teams
• Exciting women’s softball atmosphere
• Availability and size of facility
• Game expenses associated with using the facility
• Ticket prices
• Gate revenue potential above host guarantee
• Host school’s ability to release TV rights
• School’s commitment to hosting more rounds in the tournament
• School vacation periods
• Other local events occurring at the same time
• TV appeal/presence/expenses/revenues
