49ers Announced as No. 3 Seed in UCLA Regional
LBSU Will Face Cornell in Opening Playoff Game on Thursday
May 16, 2004 INDIANAPOLIS, IN -- The NCAA Division I Softball Committee has selected the 64 teams that will compete in the championship. Long Beach State (48-11, 18-3 Big West) was announced as the No. 3 seed in the UCLA Regional and will face the No. 6 seed, Cornell on Thursday, May 20 at 9:00 a.m. Live Stats will be provided for all softball games. Fans can go to the UCLA website for all the tournament information: www.uclabruins.com
Eight teams will participate at each of eight regional sites in a double-elimination tournament. Eight teams will be seeded and each of the seeded teams will be placed at one of the regional sites. The regional winners advance to the Women's College World Series (WCWS), an eight-team, double-elimination tournament. (Note: The championship final is a single-game final.) Regionals will be conducted May 20-23. The WCWS will be conducted May 27-31 at ASA Hall of Fame Stadium in Oklahoma City.
The NCAA Division I Softball Committee selected teams from the following eight regions to participate in the championship: Central, East, Northeast, South, Mideast, Midwest, West and Pacific. Twenty-seven conferences were granted automatic qualification for the 2004 championship. Long Beach State will compete in its 15th NCAA Regional in school history. LBSU was an automatic NCAA qualifier after securing its fourth Big West Conference championship on Friday. LBSU has made NCAA Regional Appearances in 2003, 2000, 1999, ‘98, ‘97, ‘96, ‘93, ‘92, ‘91, ‘90, ‘1989, ‘88, ‘87, and ‘86. The 49ers have compiled an overall record of 16-22 in 14 NCAA Regional Appearances, and have appeared in five NCAA College World Series (1993, 1992, 1991, 1990, and 1986).
The UCLA Regional Bracket as follows:
Region No. 2 - May 20-23 at Los Angeles, Calif.
*No. 1 seed UCLA (39-9)
No. 2 seed Alabama (42-18)
No. 3 seed Long Beach State (48-11)
No. 4 seed Louisville (40-17)
No. 5 seed Missouri (27-24)
No. 6 seed Cornell (39-11)
No. 7 seed Central Michigan (32-17)
No. 8 seed Mississippi Valley (31-13)
Regional play will begin on Thursday morning at 9:00 am at Easton Stadium. Game times for Thursday's first day of competition are as follows:
(Game 1) 9 am - #3 Long Beach State vs. #6 Cornell
(Game 2) 11:30 am - #7 Central Michigan vs. #2 Alabama
(Game 3) 2 pm - #4 Louisville vs. #5 Missouri
(Game 4) 4:30 pm - #1 UCLA vs. #8 Mississippi Valley State
(Game 5) 7 pm- Loser Game 1 vs. Loser Game 2
ESPN will televise three games from the UCLA Regional. The first televised game is Game 7 at Noon PT on Friday, which will feature the winner of Game 1 (LBSU/Cornell) vs. the winner of Game 2 (Central Michigan/Alabama). Saturday's first game of the day, which is the winners bracket final (Game 11), and Sunday's first championship game (Game 14) will also be televised with Beth Mowins and Tammy Blackburn calling the action for all games.
Tickets will be available at the gate. A four-day All-Sessions ticket is $30 for adults and $20 for students. Single-day passes are $10 for adults and $6 for students.
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