For the third time in school history, the Florida softball team has been named the No. 1 overall seed in the 2015 NCAA Softball Tournament.
With an overall record of a 50-6, the Gators were seeded atop the 64-team tournament during Sunday night’s selection show.
UF will round out a top four that features Oregon, Michigan and Auburn.
"I saw the word ‘expectations’ next to being the No. 1 seed, but I think our team’s really handled the challenge of embracing just what this season’s meant after winning the national championship last season," Walton said on the SEC Network. "When you’re a Gator you always get everybody’s best shot."
Florida earned the top spot, guaranteeing the Gators home-field advantage throughout the tournament, despite getting knocked out of last weekend’s Southeastern Conference Tournament Championship in a 2-1 loss to Tennessee in the semifinals.
But the Gators did win the SEC regular season championship with an 18-5 record in arguably the toughest conference in softball.
The No. 1 seed is the first for the Gators since 2009, in which Florida finished in second place in the NCAA Women’s College World Series.
The 2008 squad also earned the No. 1 seed, but finished tied for third in the WCWS despite winning an NCAA-record 70 games that season.
Last year’s national championship team was seeded fifth overall.
The Gators will host one of the tournament’s 16 regional sites in Gainesville at Katie Seashole Pressly Stadium from May 15-17.
This marks the 13th straight season Florida will host a regional in Gainesville and the 16th time in the team’s 19-year history that they will host a regional.
The four teams in this year’s Gainesville Regional include Florida, Florida A&M (18-37), Florida Atlantic (37-17-1) and Hofstra (37-12-1).
The Gators haven’t played any of the three teams this season.
FAU and Hofstra will open play Friday at 3:30 p.m., while UF follows with its first game versus FAMU at 6 p.m.
This weekend’s play is set up in double-elimination format.
The winner of the Gainesville Regional will advance to a Super Regional against the winner of the South Bend Regional, which includes Kentucky, Ball State, Northwestern and No. 16 seed Notre Dame.
Whichever of the two regional winners has the higher seed will host the Super Regional.
Last year, UF won the Gainesville Regional that included FAMU, Stetson and UCF before defeating Washington in the Super Regional round to advance to the WCWS.
Just like the 2014 regional round, the Gators will play FAMU in their first game this year.
Sophomore pitcher Delanie Gourley threw the first no-hitter in Florida postseason history in last year’s 8-0 win versus the Rattlers.
A television broadcast contributed to this report.
Follow Patrick Pinak on Twitter @Pinakk12
UF's Lauren Haeger fist bumps coach Tim Walton after hitting a home run during Florida's 4-1 win against Illinois State on Feb. 21 at Katie Seashole Pressly Stadium.
