Michigan’s Big Ten tournament championship softball team will open NCAA Tournament regional play against Central Florida on Friday in Austin, Texas.

The game will begin at 2 p.m. at Red & Charlie McCombs Field and will be televised by ESPN2. Host Texas and Eastern Illinois will play Friday’s second game in the four-team, double-elimination regional at 4:30 p.m. Texas is the No. 6 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament and the regional’s No. 1 seed. Eastern Illinois is the No. 4 seed.

The Wolverines (38-19), coming off a second straight tournament championship, are the No. 3 seed in the regional and UCF (33-22-1) is the No. 2 seed.Michigan coach Bonnie Tholl said Sunday night that she told her team not to worry about any team but UCF. Scouting the other two teams, particularly Texas, is up to the staff.

“Right now, we are laser-focused on our opponent, UCF, and remembering also what we do really well, and not be so focused on our opponent we forget to be us,” Tholl, in her third season as head coach, told reporters Sunday night.

Michigan earned an at-large berth after winning its second straight Big Ten conference tournament. The Wolverines defeated No. 1 seed UCLA 2-0 on Saturday.

Senior right-hander Lauren Derkowski was named the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player, after holding UCLA to three hits and two walks with a pair of strikeouts through five innings. She combined with sophomore Erin Hoehn for their second shutout against a top-10 team in three days — the Wolverines upset No. 1 seed Oregon on Thursday. Those two upsets give the Wolverines plenty of confidence.

“We just beat two top-10 ranked teams,” Tholl said of what the team can take from winning the tournament title. “I want our kids to remember we are playing our best ball right now. We have an opportunity ahead of us and be excited about the opportunity as we were every day this week (during the Big Ten tournament) about the opportunity to conquer the tournament. That was our mission. Our mission absolutely was conquering the tournament, understanding this is a brand new season and we were the eighth seed and it was, so what? We’re one of the best teams here, and we knew it.”

The Wolverines will take Monday off in an effort, Tholl said, to rest their bodies, and the plan is to focus on hydrating, because they’re not used to playing in conditions like they’ll face in the regional. The forecast for Austin on Friday is 97 degrees, and it will climb to 100 by Sunday.

The Wolverines last won an NCAA regional in 2016 and reached the World Series that year. Tholl said the team feels good about itself and its direction with Derkowski and Hoehn.

“I like what we’re doing,” Tholl said. “I like where we’re at right now. I like how we feel about our game. I like our aggressiveness. I like our intention at the plate. I like our intention communicating with each other. I like our confidence in how we walk out of the dugout. I like everything about us right now and the tone is being set by our two top pitchers.”

This is the program’s 31st NCAA Tournament appearance (1992-1993, 1995-2022, 2024-2025).

The Wolverines are 90-25 all-time in the NCAA regional round and have won 18 regional titles.

The winner of the this regional will advance to a Super Regional against the winner of the regional hosted by Arizona. The Super Regional is a best-of-three format with the winner advancing to the eight-team Women’s College World Series, May 29-June 6 in Oklahoma City, Okla.

Austin Regional

Format is double-elimination. Saturday and Sunday game times will be announced later.

FRIDAY

Game 1: No. 2 UCF vs. No. 3 Michigan, 2 p.m. (ESPN2)

Game 2: No. 1 Texas vs. No. 4 Eastern Illinois, 4:30 p.m.

SATURDAY

Game 3: Game 1 winner vs. Game 2 winner

Game 4: Game 1 loser vs. Game 2 loser

Game 5: Game 3 loser vs. Game 4 winner

SUNDAY

Game 6: Game 3 winner vs. Game 5 winner

Game 7 (if necessary): Game 6 winner vs. Game 6 loser