NOTRE DAME, Ind. — For the 22nd-consecutive season, Notre Dame Softball has secured a selection to the NCAA Softball Tournament, which includes every season of head coach Deanna Gumpf’s tenure that the tournament has been played. The Irish will open the tournament as the No. 2 seed in the Lexington Regional, and will join No. 14 overall Kentucky, Miami (OH) and Northwestern from May 21-23 and John Cropp Stadium.
Notre Dame’s first game will be Friday, May 21 at 2:30 p.m. ET vs. Miami (OH) on ESPN3.
Notre Dame owns 36 all-time wins during the NCAA Championship tournament, and is one of just eight teams nationally to hear its name called for the tournament each season since 1999. Alabama, Arizona, Louisiana, Michigan, Oklahoma, UCLA and Washington were the only other teams a part of this exclusive list entering the 2020-21 season.
Entering this season, in the history of the NCAA Championship (dating back to the inaugural tournament in 1982), Notre Dame was one of just 25 teams nationally to appear in 20 or more NCAA tournaments. The Irish have reached a regional final 10 times under Gumpf since she assumed the helm of the Notre Dame program in 2002.
This season, the Irish own 11 wins over the RPI Top 75 this season (as of May 9), including victories over Duke, Liberty, Virginia Tech, Villanova and Charlotte. Of those 11 wins, nine of them were on the road, including four in a four-game sweep at Virginia Tech. Notre Dame has played 15 games this season against teams ranked in the Top 25 or receiving votes, all of which have been away or neutral games, and all of those teams are now ranked in the Top 25 as of May 9. The Irish have earned six wins over those opponents.
Notre Dame completed an undefeated home season (15-0) in 2021, the only ACC program to go undefeated at home this season, and one of just three teams in the RPI Top 25 to achieve the feat (joining Oklahoma and Arizona). Notre Dame’s home slate included ACC series sweeps of NC State, Virginia and Boston College.
The Irish entered the ACC tournament with a 14-game winning streak, Notre Dame’s longest win streak since 19 games in 2016, and the 14-game stint included a four-game sweep of then No. 15 Virginia Tech in Blacksburg.