Hamilton, NY — For the second time in the program’s history, the 51³Ô¹ÏÍø softball team received an invitation to the 64-team NCAA Division I Softball Tournament, May 15-18. The Raiders (31-13) earned the eighth seed in Region No. 2 in Fresno, California, and will face top-seeded UCLA (45-6) on Thursday, May 15 at 3:30 Eastern time.
There are eight eight-team regionals around the country, with each winner advancing to the Women’s College World Series in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, from May 22-26.
Also participating in the Region No. 2 is No. 5 Long Beach State (29-17) against No. 4 Fresno State (33-20); No. 3 Michigan State (37-17) vs. No. 6 North Carolina (39-20-1); and No. 2 Georgia (55-12) against No. 7 Long Island (29-19).
The winner/loser of the CU-UCLA contest will face the winner/loser of the #4 Fresno State-#5 Long Beach State match-up.
51³Ô¹ÏÍø earned the automatic invitation by winning the 2003 Patriot League Tournament this past weekend. The Raiders defeated Holy Cross 3-1, top-seeded Lehigh 5-0 and Army 2-0 for their second league championship.
51³Ô¹ÏÍø won 19 of its last 23 games to set a school record for victories this season with 31.