Michigan softball coach Carol Hutchins and the Wolverines will begin NCAA regional action Friday with an 8 p.m. game against Western Michigan.

Melanie Maxwell | AnnArbor.com

There wasn’t much celebrating in the Michigan softball team room late Sunday night. Sure, the Wolverines were ranked No. 1 for a week this season and put together a gaudy record and looked forward to the postseason.

But the coaches studied the RPI, the strength of schedule, and Michigan's spot in the NCAA tournament is neither a surprise nor a disappointment. Michigan was tabbed as the No. 10 seed in the NCAA softball tournament and will play host to a regional this weekend, beginning Friday.

Notre Dame (45-9) and Kentucky (36-14) will play in the first game of the double-elimination tournament at 5:30 p.m. on ESPN2 and Michigan (51-4) will face Western Michigan (25-28) at 8 p.m. on ESPN.

“I predicted somewhere between seven and 11, but I don’t care,” Michigan softball coach Carol Hutchins said. “The last three years we’ve been ranked in the top eight, and last year four of the top eight didn’t make it. Rankings, who cares, let’s play.

“We just have to show up to play.”

Hutchins likely remembers a season ago, when the second-ranked Wolverines lost, 5-0, in the Super Regional to No. 15 Tennessee at Alumni Field.

Despite a lower ranking this year, Michigan is assured of a Super Regional home berth if it gets out of regionals. But that’s a week away. For now, Hutchins is concerned with what she considers a tough regional draw.

Michigan faces Western Michigan yearly, Notre Dame played in the regional here a year ago and Kentucky played Michigan in a weekend series last season. Michigan beat Western Michigan, 6-1, on April 12 in Ann Arbor. The Wolverines beat Notre Dame, 9-4, on March 19 in Fullerton, Calif.

“I’m not even going to think about it,” “You always look at the bracket and see who you are with and who you are paired up against. You always do.

“It’s really difficult to get to the World Series. The Top 16 is brutal and then you look at the rest of it, Notre Dame has had a great year and Kentucky is dangerous. That is one thing I can tell you, they are dangerous.”

According to the NCAA website, Saturday’s games would be Game 3 at noon, Game 4 at 2:30 p.m. and Game 5 at 5 p.m. Sunday’s regional final would begin at 1 p.m.

Michigan is 13-2 at home and, before falling to Indiana in April, had not lost a regular-season home game since 2008.

“I honestly think when other teams come in to play at Michigan, they are lucky to come and play on our field because our field is so nice and our stands are always full,” senior first baseman Dorian Shaw said. “That’s something a lot of schools don’t get, that kind of environment.

“That we come out on a Wednesday and have full chair-back seats and full outfield bleachers, playing in that home atmosphere definitely bodes well for us. But it’s just nice to be at home.”

Michael Rothstein covers University of Michigan basketball and softball for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached at (734) 623-2558, by email at michaelrothstein@annarbor.com or follow along on Twitter @mikerothstein