Softball earns No. 1 overall seed in NCAA Tournament

The No. 1-ranked softball team was rewarded for its stellar play this season with the No. 1 overall seed in the 2008 NCAA Tournament.

With the top seed, the Gators will host a regional with Georgia Tech, Central Florida and USF, beginning Friday.

The Gators (62-2) will open the first round against Georgia Tech (31-29) at 7:30 p.m. UCF (46-18) will play USF (44-18) at 5 p.m. The winners will play each other on Saturday, while the losers will meet in an elimination game. The winner of the region will play the winner of the Fresno State region which includes No. 16 seeded Fresno State, Sacramento State, California and San Diego State.

This is the first top 10 seed for the Gators. It is the ninth NCAA Tournament appearance for the Gators in the 12-year history of the program, the sixth consecutive.

Florida is one of eight SEC teams to make the tournament, the most of any conference in the nation.

Four SEC teams are top 16 seeded teams, including No. 3 Alabama, No. 9 LSU, No. 13 Tennessee and No. 15 Georgia. Also in the field of 64 are Arkansas, Auburn, Georgia and Mississippi State.