The Shippensburg University softball team is situated at No. 2 in the second edition of the 2024 NCAA Atlantic Region rankings released Wednesday. The NCAA regional rankings are annually used to determine the teams that qualify for the NCAA Division II Softball Championships.
 
This is the second of three editions of the regional rankings before the announcement of the tournament field, which is set for 10 a.m. on Monday, May 6. Each set of rankings includes all games played through the previous Sunday.
 
Six of the Top 7 regionally ranked teams are from the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Eastern Division: No. 1 East Stroudsburg, No. 2 Shippensburg, No. 4 Bloomsburg, No. 5 Kutztown, No. 6 West Chester and No. 7 Millersville.
 
Following the completion of the regular season and conference tournaments, eight teams from each of the eight regions will advance to the 2024 NCAA Division II Softball Championships. Per the NCAA, teams will participate at each regional sites in a double-elimination tournament. The 16 teams advancing from regional competition will participate in a two-team, best-of-three super regional at eight sites.
 
The Atlantic Region is comprised of the 18 teams in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC), the 11 teams in the Mountain East Conference (MEC) and the 13 teams in the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association (CIAA) in addition to independent school Salem (44 total teams).
 
The Atlantic Region Championships will feature three automatic qualifiers – the tournament champions from the PSAC, MEC and CIAA – and five at-large selections.
 
Shippensburg is seeking its third consecutive NCAA Tournament berth for the first time since making eight consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances from 2002-09.
 
• More information about the NCAA regional championships, including selection criteria and more, can be found in the NCAA's Pre-Championship manual at https://ncaaorg.s3.amazonaws.com/championships/sports/softball/d2/2023-24D2WSB_PreChampionshipManual.pdf