Kentucky to host NCAA softball regional. EKU, WKU in the field but on the road.

Kentucky, Eastern Kentucky and Western Kentucky are on the road to the Women’s College World Series.

All three teams, along with the rest of the 64-team NCAA Softball Tournament field, learned their postseason destinations Sunday night.

Kentucky (39-13) was awarded the No. 14 overall seed and will host three other teams at John Cropp Stadium for this weekend’s Lexington Regional.

Eastern Kentucky (35-15) earned a spot in the Knoxville Regional and Western Kentucky (31-13) is headed to Athens, Ga.

Kentucky, one of 12 Southeastern Conference teams named to the NCAA field, received an at-large bid after finishing sixth in the league in the regular season. The Wildcats host Mid-American Conference champion Miami (Ohio) (46-8), Atlantic Coast Conference fifth-place finisher Notre Dame (31-13) and Big Ten third-place finisher Northwestern (29-15) beginning Friday.

The winners of each of the 16 double-elimination regionals move on to the best-of-three super-regional round and ultimately to the eight-team Women’s College World Series in Oklahoma City.

Eastern Kentucky, which received an automatic bid by virtue of winning the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament, is joined in Knoxville by host and No. 9 overall seed Tennessee (41-13), Liberty (42-13) and James Madison (34-1) beginning Friday.

Western Kentucky won an automatic bid by capturing the Conference USA Tournament. In addition to host Georgia (29-21), the Hilltoppers will square off against No. 13 overall seed Duke (42-10) and UNC Greensboro (34-15).

In addition to Kentucky, Georgia and Tennessee, the SEC also placed Alabama, Arkansas, Auburn, Florida, LSU, Mississippi, Mississippi State, Missouri and Texas A&M into the NCAA field. Only South Carolina did not qualify among the 13 SEC schools with softball programs.

Joining Kentucky, Tennessee and Duke in claiming top-16 seeds were: No. 1 Oklahoma, No. 2 UCLA, No. 3 Alabama, No. 4 Florida, No. 5 Oklahoma State, No. 6 Arkansas, No. 7 LSU, No. 8 Missouri, No. 10 Florida State, No. 11 Arizona, No. 12 Texas, No. 15 Arizona State and No. 16 Washington.

Friday’s opening games in Lexington pit Kentucky against Northwestern at noon (ESPN2) and Miami (Ohio) against Notre Dame at 2:30 p.m. (ESPN3). The double-elimination bracket continues through Sunday.

Lexington Regional

At UK’s John Cropp Stadium

Friday

Game 1: Northwestern vs. Kentucky, Noon (ESPN2)

Game 2: Notre Dame vs. Miami (Ohio), 2:30 p.m. (ESPN3)

Saturday

Game 3: Winner Game 1 vs. Winner Game 2, Noon

Game 4: Loser Game 1 vs. Loser Game 2, 2:30 p.m.

Game 5: Loser Game 3 vs. Winner Game 4, 5 p.m.

Sunday

Game 6: Winner Game 3 vs. Winner Game 5, Noon

Game 7: If necessary, 2:30 p.m.