1997 Big Ten softball tournament

1997 Big Ten
softball tournament

Teams	4
Format	Double-elimination
Finals site	Bob Pearl Softball Field Iowa City, Iowa
Champions	Michigan (3rd title)
Runner-up	Iowa (2nd title game)
Winning coach	Carol Hutchins (3rd title)

1997 Big Ten Conference softball standings

	Conf									Overall
Team	W		L		T		PCT			W		L		T		PCT
No. 5 Iowa  ‍†‍‍y	22	–	0	–	0		1.000			52	–	9	–	0		.852
No. 6 Michigan ‍‍‡‍y	18	–	4	–	0		.818			51	–	14	–	0		.785
No. 24 Michigan State  ‍‍‍y	14	–	9	–	0		.609			47	–	22	–	0		.681
Purdue  ‍‍‍	14	–	10	–	0		.583			41	–	25	–	0		.621
Indiana ‍‍‍	11	–	11	–	0		.500			27	–	21	–	0		.563
Minnesota ‍‍‍	10	–	13	–	0		.435			37	–	19	–	0		.661
Wisconsin  ‍‍‍	10	–	13	–	0		.435			32	–	25	–	0		.561
Northwestern  ‍‍‍	9	–	14	–	0		.391			19	–	31	–	0		.380
Ohio State  ‍‍‍	4	–	18	–	0		.182			20	–	31	–	0		.392
Penn State  ‍‍‍	2	–	22	–	0		.083			23	–	32	–	0		.418
† – Conference champion ‡ – Tournament champion y – Invited to the NCAA tournament As of June 1997 Rankings from NFCA/USA Today

The 1997 Big Ten softball tournament was held at Bob Pearl Softball Field on the campus of the University of Iowa in Iowa City, Iowa. As the tournament winner, Michigan earned the Big Ten Conference's automatic bid to the 1997 NCAA Division I softball tournament. This was the third of four consecutive Big Ten softball tournaments that Michigan won from 1995 to 1998.

Format and seeding

The 1997 tournament was a four team double-elimination tournament. The top four teams based on conference regular season winning percentage earned invites to the tournament.

Tournament

	First round					Semi-finals					Finals
	1	Iowa	2
	4	Purdue	0
						1	Iowa	2
						2	Michigan	3
	3	Michigan State	0
	2	Michigan	4
											2	Michigan	4	—
											1	Iowa	2	—
	3	Michigan State	4
	4	Purdue	2
						3	Michigan State	3
						1	Iowa	4