BATON ROUGE – The LSU softball team earned the No. 9 national seed in the 2013 NCAA Championships and will host a four-team regional which features Louisiana-Lafayette, Northwestern State and Central Connecticut State running Friday to Sunday at Tiger Park.
The No. 9 national seed is LSU’s highest since the Tigers secured a No. 7 seed during the 2007 season. It marks the first time since 2010 that LSU will play host to postseason softball at Tiger Park.
Season ticket holders will have until Tuesday at 12 p.m. to reserve their seats by logging into their accounts at www.LSUtix.net. They also can reserve their seats by contacting the LSU Ticket Office at (225) 578-2184 or (800) 960-8587. Ticket information to the general public for all-session books will be announced on Monday.
LSU (40-14, 15-8 SEC) collected its 15th NCAA Regional appearances sparked by a trio of trips to the Women’s College Series during the 2001, 2004 and 2012 seasons. The Tigers also secured two NCAA Super Regional efforts in 2006 and 2007.
“We’re honored and excited that the NCAA Tournament committee selected us to host this first weekend,” head coach Beth Torina said. “As a coaching staff, we’ll have to do a lot of research to prepare for this regional. Hopefully, we’ll get back going and use these next couple of days of practice to get back to where we need to be fundamentally so we can be at our best.”
LSU notched an at-large selection after winning the program’s first SEC Western Division crown since 2007 and a fourth place finish in the SEC standings. The Tigers are one of NCAA Tournament conference-record 11 teams chosen from the SEC. The Pac-12 conference came away with eight bids into the NCAA Field of 64.
The top 16 teams were seeded and awarded host sites by the NCAA Selection Committee. Four teams will participate at each of the 16 regional sites in a double-elimination tournament.
The 16 teams advancing from regional competition will advance in a two-team, best of three super regional at eight sites from May 23-26. The Women’s College World Series, which begins May 30, will include the eight super regional winners.
Every LSU postseason game will have live audio and live stats available inside the Geaux Zone on LSUsports.net. The games also will be carried live on Country Legends 104.9 FM in the Baton Rouge area. Fans also can follow every pitch of LSU softball via live in-game updates at the program’s social media outlets @lsusoftball on Twitter and www.Facebook.com/lsusoftball.
NCAA Baton Rouge Regional
Friday, May 17
Game 1: Louisiana-Lafayette vs. Northwestern State – 3 p.m.
Game 2: No. 9 LSU vs. Central Connecticut State – 6 p.m.
Saturday, May 18
Game 3: Game 1 winner vs. Game 2 winner – 12 p.m.
Game 4: Game 1 loser vs. Game 2 loser – 3 p.m.
Game 5: Game 3 loser vs. Game 4 winner – 6 p.m.
Sunday, May 17
Game 6: Game 3 winner vs. Game 5 winner – 1 p.m.
Game 7: Game 6 rematch if necessary – 4 p.m.
2013 NCAA Softball Championships
Norman Regional – May 17-19 at Norman, Okla.
No. 1 seed Oklahoma* (47-4) vs. Marist (30-24)
Fordham (35-21) vs. Arkansas (34-18)
College Station Regional – May 17-19 at College Station, Texas
Baylor (39-15) vs. Arizona (32-24)
Penn (30-18) vs. No. 16 seed Texas A&M* (39-15)
Baton Rouge Regional – May 17-19 at Baton Rouge, La.
No. 9 seed LSU* (40-14) vs. Central Connecticut State (35-13)
Northwestern State (40-13) vs. Louisiana-Lafayette (43-13)
Ann Arbor Regional – May 17-19 at Ann Arbor, Mich.
California (36-17) vs. Central Michigan (33-18)
Valparaiso (34-25) vs. No. 8 seed Michigan* (45-10)
Tempe Regional – May 17-19 at Tempe, Ariz.
No. 5 seed Arizona State* (45-10) vs. San Jose State (42-15)
Georgia (38-19) vs. San Diego State (35-18)
Lexington Regional – May 17-19 at Lexington, Ky.
Notre Dame (43-13) vs. Virginia Tech (35-19)
Marshall (35-20) vs. No. 12 seed Kentucky* (38-18)
Mobile Regional – May 17-19 at Mobile, Ala.
No. 13 seed South Alabama* (45-7) vs. Mississippi Valley (24-26)
Mississippi State (32-22) vs. Florida State (41-16)
Austin Regional – May 17-19 at Austin, Texas
Houston (40-18) vs. South Carolina (32-23)
Army (35-24) vs. No 4 seed Texas* (44-8)
Eugene Regional – May 16-18 at Eugene, Ore.
No. 3 seed Oregon* (46-9) vs. BYU (33-20)
North Carolina (39-19) vs. Wisconsin (42-11)
Lincoln Regional – May 17-19 at Lincoln, Neb.
Stanford (37-19) vs. Tulsa (42-14)
UNI (26-24) vs. No. 14 seed Nebraska* (40-13)
Washington Regional – May 17-19 at Seattle, Wash.
No. 11 seed Washington (38-15) vs. Portland State (25-29)
Minnesota (35-17) vs. Hawaii (43-11)
Columbia Regional – May 17-19 at Columbia, Mo.
Hofstra (43-11) vs. Oregon State (33-22)
Stony Brook (35-23) vs. No. 6 seed Missouri* (35-11)
Knoxville Regional – May 17-19 at Knoxville, Tenn.
No. 7 seed Tennessee* (44-10) vs. Longwood (35-17)
James Madison (41-15) vs. North Carolina State (33-18)
Tuscaloosa Regional – May 17-19 at Tuscaloosa, Ala.
Western Kentucky (41-16) vs. S.C. Upstate (41-10)
Jacksonville State (30-25) vs. No. 10 seed Alabama* (42-13)
Louisville Regional – May 17-19 at Louisville, Ky.
No. 15 seed Louisville* (46-11) vs. IPFW (32-14)
UAB (37-16) vs. UCLA (37-18)
Gainesville Regional – May 17-19 at Gainesville, Fla.
South Florida (43-14) vs. Georgia Southern (32-28)
Hampton (33-24) vs. No. 2 seed Florida* (52-7)
* Indicates host institution