KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- The 2021 MIAA Softball Championship bracket and pairings are announced, with eight programs punching a ticket for a best-of-3 series at four on-campus locations. The top four seeds -- No. 1 Central Oklahoma, No. 2 Central Missouri, No. 3 Missouri Southern State and No. 4 Rogers State -- all will host seeds Nos. 5-8 on Friday and Saturday. A doubleheader will occur on Friday followed by the if-necessary game on Saturday.

The four winners from those quarterfinal rounds advance to the final site May 13-16 in Edmond, Okla., on the campus of the University of Central Oklahoma. The championship event at UCO is a double-elimination tournament with the first game at 2 p.m. CT on May 13th. 

• For the complete championship schedule, bracket and information, click here.

No. 1-seed Central Oklahoma claimed its fourth softball regular-season championship since coming into the league in 2012. The Bronchos earned the outright title with a 21-5 league record, 1.0-game better in the standings than second-place Central Missouri. The Bronchos own two tournament titles, winning back in 2019 and 2017. UCO hosts No. 8 Northwest Missouri State in the quarterfinals.

No. 2 Central Missouri will host No. 7 Washburn this upcoming weekend. The two teams met up in a double-header today (Monday) with the teams splitting the pair. 

No. 3 Missouri Southern State welcomes No. 6 Missouri Western State to Joplin, Mo. The Lions swept Missouri Western on May 1 by a pair of one-run margins.

In the final pairing, No. 4 Rogers State plays host to No. 5 Fort Hays State, with each team winning once earlier this year in the regular-season match-up. This is the first-ever MIAA Tournament appearance for Rogers State.

The tournament champion is an automatic qualifier for the NCAA Central Regional, which begins May 19. Currently, there are four MIAA programs in the "under consideration" category for the regional ranking.