INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Play opens today in the NCAA Division I softball championships, with three days of regional play at 16 regional campus sites.

Two-time defending national champion Florida has the top overall seed in the tournament and will open play facing Alabama State in the double-elimination regional tournament. Teams that advance out of regionals will go to super-regionals before the Women's College World Series.

Alabama State is among five schools making their first appearance ever in the national tournament, along with Butler, Cal State-Bakersfield, Mississippi and Samford.

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