BATON ROUGE — After winning the Southeastern Conference regular season and tournament championships, being ranked third in the nation for the better half of the season and in the top five throughout, the LSU softball team will travel to Lafayette, La., to face Northwestern State in the first game of the NCAA Regional Championship at noon on Thursday.
The regional berth is the fifth straight for LSU, but the first time the Tigers have had to travel for an NCAA Regional since the school’s first berth in the 1998 season (Seattle, Wash.). Softball was reinstated as a varsity sport at LSU in 1997 after fielding a team from 1979-81.
According to the pairings released on www.ncaachampionships.com, none of the nation’s top eight seeds will play host to a regional.
LSU (53-9), the third seed in the 48-team tournament and the top seed in the Lafayette region, is paired with No. 2 seed Arizona State, No. 3 UL-Lafayette, No. 4 Massachusetts, No. 5 Mississippi State and No. 6 Northwestern State.
Top-seeded UCLA travels to Columbia, S.C., No. 2 seed Arizona heads to Minneapolis, Minn., No. 4 seed Cal State Fullerton goes to Fresno State, No. 5 seed Texas plays in conference-rival Oklahoma’s hometown, No. 6 Washington travels to Ann Arbor, Mich., No. 7 Nebraska moves on to Iowa City, Iowa, and No. 8 Florida Atlantic has to cross the state to Tallahassee, Fla.
The Tigers defeated Northwestern State four times this season (3-1, 2-1, 4-3 [9], 2-0) and have never lost to the Lady Demons in 16 meetings on the softball diamond. Also, LSU has posted a 3-0 record against second-seeded Arizona State, including a 3-2 victory over the ninth-ranked Sun Devils in last season’s NCAA Regional in Baton Rouge, a 4-2 (8) win in the Fiesta Bowl Classis in Tempe, Ariz., in 2001 and a 6-4 victory in the NFCA Leadoff Classic in 2000.
LSU’s only scheduled meeting with third-seeded UL-Lafayette this season was canceled due to rain on April 11. The Tigers have a 9-3 record against the Lady Cajuns including 4-2 in Lafayette and 1-1 in NCAA Regional play.
Against fourth-seeded UMass, LSU has a 1-1 record including a 9-0 victory in the 2001 Fiesta Bowl Classic and a 2-0 loss in a Florida State tournament in 1998. The Tigers have a 20-2 record all-time against SEC rival and fifth-seeded Mississippi State and won two of three games this season (9-3, 7-8 [11], 4-0).
LSU has been to the NCAA postseason in every season since 1998 and advanced to the Women’s College World Series for the first time in school history in 2001, finishing third. The Tigers have a 13-8 all-time record in postseason play.
According to the NCAA website: “Seeded teams were placed in the bracket, and the remaining selected teams were placed in their most proximate geographic regions. The committee maintained the ability to balance the bracket and/or avoid first-round (defined as the first three games of the regional tournament) conference match-ups by moving a team to another region when necessary, but flights could not be created in doing so.
“Top-seeded teams were not guaranteed to host a regional because site selection was based on geographic location.”
Teams advancing to the Women’s College World Series (WCWS), May 23-27 at the Amateur Sports Association’s (ASA) Hall of Fame Stadium in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, will be advanced into the WCWS bracket according to the overall regional seeding (i.e., regional No. 1 winner will be seed No.1).
Please check back later for the complete story.
May 12, 2002 – DATES/SITES/PAIRINGS:
* Indicates host institution
Seed No. 1 – May 16-19 at Columbia, South Carolina
No. 1 seed UCLA (50-6)
No. 2 seed Georgia (57-15)
No. 3 seed *South Carolina (43-18)
No. 4 seed Eastern Kentucky (36-12)
No. 5 seed UMBC (46-19)
No. 6 seed Liberty (28-31)
Seed No. 2 – May 16-19 at Minneapolis, Minnesota
No. 1 seed Arizona (48-10)
No. 2 seed DePaul (46-9)
No. 3 seed *Minnesota (35-19)
No. 4 seed Princeton (34-16)
No. 5 seed Penn State (32-24)
No. 6 seed Boston U. (28-21)
Seed No. 3 – May 16-19 at Lafayette, Louisiana
No. 1 seed LSU (53-9)
No. 2 seed Arizona St. (40-18)
No. 3 seed *Louisiana-Lafayette (49-11)
No. 4 seed Massachusetts (52-11)
No. 5 seed Mississippi State (35-29)
No. 6 seed Northwestern State (45-23)
Seed No. 4 – May 16-19 at Fresno, California
No. 1 seed Cal St. Fullerton (50-11)
No. 2 seed Stanford (43-18)
No. 3 seed California (48-19)
No. 4 seed *Fresno St. (49-18)
No. 5 seed Pacific (Cal.) (42-15)
No. 6 seed Evansville (34-25)
Seed No. 5 – May 16-19 at Norman, Oklahoma
No. 1 seed Texas (46-11)
No. 2 seed *Oklahoma (44-14)
No. 3 seed Texas A&M (38-16)
No. 4 seed Arkansas (32-26)
No. 5 seed Utah (30-34)
No. 6 seed Army (30-17-1)
Seed No. 6 – May 16-19 at Ann Arbor, Michigan
No. 1 seed Washington (43-16)
No. 2 seed *Michigan (46-9)
No. 3 seed Ohio State (53-12)
No. 4 seed Central Michigan (38-14)
No. 5 seed Canisius (33-14)
No. 6 seed Oakland (24-35-1)
Seed No. 7 – May 16-19 at Iowa City, Iowa
No. 1 seed Nebraska (45-12)
No. 2 seed Oregon State (38-23)
No. 3 seed Notre Dame (41-15)
No. 4 seed *Iowa (35-18)
No. 5 seed Wisconsin (31-20)
No. 6 seed Illinois-Chicago (42-20)
Seed No. 8 – May 16-19 at Tallahassee, Florida
No. 1 seed Florida Atlantic (59-11)
No. 2 seed Alabama (46-19)
No. 3 seed *Florida State (49-17)
No. 4 seed Auburn (38-25)
No. 5 seed Georgia Tech (47-16)
No. 6 seed Chattanooga (40-13)