Bruins look to defend title at NCAA Championships

By Greg Lewis

Daily Bruin Senior Staff

Everybody wants what UCLA has got: the NCAA softball title.
Thursday afternoon the Bruins’ title defense will begin with
the first round of the NCAA Softball Championship.

Sunday evening the NCAA Selection Committee seeded the 48
post-season teams into eight regionals with few surprises.

UCLA (39-11) will host the Region 4 Tournament as the No. 1
seed, with the first game scheduled for 10 a.m. and UCLA’s
game scheduled for approximately 12:30 p.m.

The Washington Huskies (56-7), ranked No. 1 for most of the
year, received the tournament’s top seed and a home regional,
as expected. No. 2 Arizona will host at home, as will Oklahoma,
Arizona State, Fresno State and Louisiana State. Stanford is the
top seed in Region 8, but second-seeded Michigan will be the host
institution.

All regions follow an identical double-elimination format, and
the regional champion will have to play four or five games. The
championship final is a single-game final, no matter what.

The eight region winners will advance to the College World
Series in Oklahoma City on May 25-31, where the teams will be
re-seeded by the NCAA.

“I’m real pleased that we got to stay home,”
UCLA head coach Sue Enquist said. “With the NCAA, you never
really know where you are going to go. I’m also happy for the
fans that we’ll be able to play in front of them.”

The Bruins will face off against sixth-seeded Canisius Thursday
at Easton Stadium, while second-seeded Iowa meets fifth-seeded
Bethune-Cookman, and No. 3 seed Long Beach State faces off against
No. 4 seed Florida State. The Bruins defeated Long Beach State 6-0
on Feb. 12, and FSU 2-0 on March 10.

“It’s a real balanced bracket, we know Long Beach
State and Florida State are tough because we’ve already
played them,” Enquist said. “We have a combination of
teams we’re familiar with and teams we’re not, so
we’ve got some preparation to do this week.”

UCLA is no stranger to the post-season, having been to 17 of 19
NCAA tournaments and a record 13 championship games.

Neither is the Pac-10 conference. With Cal, Oregon State and
Oregon also receiving post-season bids, this marks the second year
in a row that all eight Pac-10 schools made the postseason.

Last year was the first time in NCAA history that every team in
a conference made the postseason.

Cal will be the third seed in Fresno State’s region,
Oregon State is the second seed in Oklahoma’s bracket and
Oregon is the No. 5 seed in Louisiana, leaving open the possibility
that the College World Series could be an all Pac-10 affair.

Despite the Pac-10’s dominance, all regions of the country
are represented in this tournament, signalling a new age of
national parity that has grown out of the west coast dominance of
previous years.

“We’re starting to see teams play teams that are
across the country, not just regional,” Long Beach State
Senior Women’s Administrator and NCAA Selection Committee
Chairman Cindy Masner said. “Strength of schedule is very
important, that’s why it’s important to get out there
and go play teams outside of your region.”

Seven teams will be making their first ever postseason
appearances this year.

Last year’s College World Series field consisted of west
coast powers UCLA, Washington, Arizona, Arizona State, Cal and
Fresno State, along with surprise contestants DePaul and Southern
Mississippi. UCLA defeated Washington 3-2 in the championship game
for its ninth national championship.