12:13 AM CDT on Monday, May 15, 2006

Associated Press

INDIANAPOLIS – Ten-time national champion UCLA was seeded No. 1 on the bracket for the NCAA softball tournament announced Sunday.

The Bruins (43-7), who lost the championship series 2-1 to Michigan last season, begin play at home Friday against Missouri State.

Arizona (44-9), which has the second most NCAA titles with six, is the No. 2 seed and will face Marist in the opening round.

Texas (49-7) was seeded third after losing its first two games at the Big 12 tournament. Northwestern (42-12) was seeded fourth, followed by Alabama (49-9), Arizona State (46-13), Oregon State (38-13) and Tennessee (53-9).

Arizona State is the only team among the top nine seeds that won't begin play in a regional at home. The Sun Devils open tournament play Friday against Long Island in a regional hosted by Hofstra in Hempstead, N.Y.

No. 9 seed Michigan (40-13) hosts the Ann Arbor Regional, where Oklahoma (38-19), the runnerup in the Big 12 Conference tournament, will take on Kent State.

The only other Oklahoma team making the tournament is USA Conference winner Tulsa (34-22), which will play in the Fresno Regional in Fresno, Calif.

Regional games will be held Thursday through Sunday, with super regionals to be held on campus sites May 26-27.

The final eight teams advance to the Women's College World Series June 1-7 in Oklahoma City.