Arizona is headed to the NCAA Durham Regional, and the path to another Women’s College World Series run starts on the road. The Wildcats, who have reached the NCAA postseason in 38 of the last 39 seasons that were held, will have to win away from home if they want to chase their 26th trip to the Women’s College World Series.

The assignment is a familiar kind of hard. Arizona has lost in regionals only four times in 37 attempts and owns a 107-14 record in the regional round, but it now has to fight through Duke, the overall No. 12 seed, in a bracket built to reward the highest teams with home-field advantages. Duke will host only through regionals, while Arizona would move on to Fayetteville to face Arkansas if it pulls the upset in Durham.

That setup reflects how the NCAA drew the bracket after breaking down the top 32 seeds. The top 16 were made regional hosts and the top 8 were kept at home through super regionals, while seeds No. 17-32 were placed using competitiveness and geography. The 17-20 bucket went to the 13-16 seeds, the 21-24 bucket went to the 9-12 range, the 25-28 seeds were sent to face the 5-8 seeds, and the top four seeds were assigned teams from the 29-32 bucket.

Duke enters as the No. 3 seed in the quadrant system and the No. 1 seed in the regional, with a No. 12 RPI and No. 14 marks in both KPI and DSR. The Blue Devils have power in the lineup, led by 96 home runs this season and Tyrina Jones with 20. Jessica Oakland is the top hitter at.465 and is one of two Duke players with 13 home runs, while three players are batting.424 or better. Duke has also been efficient on the bases, going 50-for-53 in stolen-base attempts, and finished 13-9 against teams that ended the season ranked in the NFCA poll.

Pitching is the area that leaves more room for Arizona. Duke has a 4.52 staff ERA and a 1.64 WHIP. KK Mathis owns the best ERA on the staff at 4.32, though she does not have qualifying innings for NCAA purposes. Among pitchers with qualifying innings, Cassidy Curd leads Duke with a 4.37 ERA and a 1.54 WHIP. Marshall, the No. 3 seed in the regional, brings its own challenge after finishing No. 28 in RPI, No. 26 in KPI and No. 46 in DSR. Jules King has a 2.91 ERA and a 1.21 WHIP in 149.0 innings, and Paige Maynard leads the staff with a 2.80 ERA.

For Arizona, the next step is clear and the margin is thin. Since super regionals were introduced in 2005, the Wildcats have advanced 17 times in 19 tries, and if they can get through Durham they would be back in that round again. The numbers say they usually find a way at this stage. The bracket says they will have to do it the hard way this time.