BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - The NCAA announced the 64-team bracket for the 2008 NCAA Softball Championships Sunday evening and the Southeastern Conference tied a league-record by advancing eight teams to the tournament. The SEC Champion Florida Gators (62-2 ) earned the national No. 1 seed, while the Alabama Crimson Tide (51-6 ) earned the national No. 3 seed. The Regionals run May 15-17 and 16-18, followed by the Super Regionals, May 23-24. The Women's College World Series is May 29-June 4 in Oklahoma City, Okla. Of the eight teams that advanced, four will host, while four will travel. Florida, Alabama, LSU and Tennessee will each host a four-team regional, while Georgia, Auburn, Mississippi State and Arkansas will travel. In all, five SEC teams earned national seeds. In addition to Florida and Alabama, LSU earned the No. 9 seed, followed by Tennessee with the No. 13 seed and Georgia with the No. 15 seed.

Making their ninth appearance to the NCAA Tournament, the Gators will host Georgia Tech, Central Florida and South Florida. Alabama will make its 10 th NCAA appearance as the Tide prepare for Chattanooga, Jacksonville State and Florida State. The LSU Tigers (42-16 ), also making their 10 th appearance, will host their final NCAA regional in Tiger Park as they welcome Mississippi Valley State, East Carolina and longtime in-state rival, Louisiana-Lafayette. The Lady Vols (47-14 ) are making their sixth appearance and will host Winthrop, Louisville and ACC Tournament Champion Virginia Tech.

Georgia (43-22 ) will make its seventh trip to the NCAA Championships and will head to Chapel Hill and take on Campbell in the first round. After missing the Championships last season, the Auburn Tigers (37-20 ) return for their fifth appearance and will travel to College Station, Texas to face WAC champion Louisiana Tech in the first round. Making their seventh NCAA Tournament appearance, the Mississippi State Bulldogs (40-20 ) will open against Hawaii in Tempe, Ariz. The Arkansas Lady Razorbacks (36-27 ) will make their third appearance, despite not advancing to the SEC Tournament, as they travel to Norman, Okla., to play Tulsa. This marks Arkansas' first appearance to the tournament since 2002 and the first time in SEC history that a team has advanced to the NCAA Tournament without competing in the SEC Tournament. Since 1997, the SEC has had four teams advance to the Women's College World Series: Alabama (' 00, ' 03, ' 05, ' 06 ), LSU (' 01, ' 04 ), South Carolina (' 07 ) and Tennessee (' 05, ' 06, ' 07 ). The Lady Vols finished as the runners-up in 2007. This marks the first time the SEC has ever had the No. 1 national seed. The only other time the SEC had eight teams in the NCAA Championships was in 2004.