For the first time since 2003, the Western Athletic Conference will send two teams to the NCAA Softball Tournament. WAC Tournament champion, Nevada, and WAC regular season champion, Fresno State, will represent the league in postseason play.
Click Here for a PDF of the NCAA Tournament BracketFresno State remains the only team to be selected to all 25 championships. Eight teams are making their initial appearances in the tournament: Nevada, North Carolina State, Youngstown State, Tulsa, Georgia Southern, Portland State, Southern Utah and Marist.
For the second-straight season, Fresno State will host. In their first game, the Bulldogs will take on in-state rival Cal State Fullerton. Also at the Fresno Regional will be Tulsa and No. 12 Stanford. In its first NCAA Tournament, Nevada will travel to Corvallis, Ore. and face No. 7 seed, Oregon State. Also in the Corvallis Regional is Portland State and Baylor.
This is the second season in which the Regional Tournament will have four teams (originally there were eight teams at each site) and there is the addition of the Super Regional. Tournament format is double elimination with the winner of each regional advancing to the Super Regional - a best of two out of three game series. The eight Super Regional winners advance to the 2006 Women's College World Series.
While the Wolf Pack is currently 33-31 on the season, Nevada has been rolling as of late, having won 13 of its last 16 games. The Beavers have a 20-14 overall record in their seven previous trips to the Regional Tournament and have reached the championship game on five occasions (1999, 2000, 2003, 2004, 2005) before being eliminated. It is the first time in the program's history that OSU has hosted an NCAA Regional.
Hosting their 20th NCAA Regional, the Bulldogs will serve host to the NCAA Region VI, which will feature No. 12 overall seed Stanford (38-15), Big West Conference tournament champion CS Fullerton (36-22) and Conference USA tournament champion Tulsa (34-22).
Fresno State (35-17), which is won the Western Athletic Conference regular-season championship, also will be making their 21st consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance under head coach Margie Wright.
Fresno Regional - May 19-21 at Fresno, California
Cal State Fullerton (36-22) vs. Fresno State (35-17)
Tulsa (34-22) vs. No. 12 Stanford (38-15)
Corvallis Regional - May 19-21 at Corvallis, Oregon
No. 7 Oregon State (38-13) vs. Nevada (33-31)
Portland State (37-18) vs. Baylor (36-20)