This season the number of automatic bids increased from 31 to 32 . The change occurred after the original Big East Conference split along football lines into a new non-football Big East Conference and the football-sponsoring American Athletic Conference . Also new this season was the WCC , which began sponsoring softball after the Pacific Tigers returned to the conference . The WCC replaced the Pacific Coast Softball Conference , which dissolved after all its members joined either the WCC or the WAC
original Big East Conference
Big East Conference (1979–2013)
2014 NCAA Division I Softball Tournament