UCLA site does not measure up

Much like a real estate agent repeats the maxim,
“Location, Location, Location,” the NCAA stresses the
quality of facilities as its main criterion for picking a softball
postseason regional site.

Despite being ranked in the top two the last two years,
UCLA’s substandard facilities at Easton Stadium severely hurt
its chances to host a regional.

“The criteria is looking for a site that can pack fans in
and facilities that look good,” said Marianne Vydra, senior
women’s administrator at Oregon State and NCAA softball
committee member. “Lights are also an absolute
must.”

This emphasis on the quality of the facilities was instituted in
2001. Previously, the only determining factor for a regional site
was a top-eight ranking ““ determined by the NCAA softball
committee.

After the new selection criteria for regional sites were enacted
last year, UCLA ““ No. 1 at the end of the 2002 regular season
““ was forced to play the regional round in Columbia, S.C. The
main factor was likely the greater potential for revenue at Beckham
Field than in Westwood.

With the new criteria, combined with Easton Stadium’s
seating capacity of a mere 1,100 and its temporary lighting; it is
likely that UCLA will not host any regionals in the near
future.

Easton’s facilities do not fare well compared to the
regional sites picked this year. Each of the host stadiums has a
capacity of 3,000-5,000 people and all of the facilities have
permanent lights.

This explains how No. 25 Florida and unranked Fresno State were
selected to host regionals ahead of higher ranking teams.

Only one Pac-10 school, Arizona ““ by far the strongest
conference in the nation ““ was selected as a regional site.
This has brought up some questioning by Pac-10 coaches.

“The eight sites they’ve chosen are very strong
facility-wise,” Oregon State softball coach Kirk Walker said.
“But there are very strong facilities in that category that
they didn’t choose. The ones I can think of are Arizona State
and Washington.

“I hoped we would have had more than the one
regional.”

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There are also other changes in the structure of NCAA postseason
softball. The following is a summary of the modifications:

“¢bull; 2003 will be the first year that the tournament will
include 64 teams instead of the previous field of 48 teams. This
changes the format from six teams in each regional to eight.

“¢bull; Teams from the same conference cannot be placed in a
regional site together.

This impacts the Pac-10 conference more than any other
conference, since all eight teams from the Pac-10 conference
qualified for regionals.

“¢bull; The NCAA Regional sites were announced at the end of
last season, but from now on they will be announced two weeks
before the end of the season.

“It allows institutions to book hotel rooms and market the
regionals,” said Lisa Vad Thorner, assistant commissioner of
the Western Athletic Conference and NCAA softball committee
chairman.

“¢bull; The ability of teams to travel by air was changed this
year to pre-Sept. 11, 2001 standards. Many teams’ air travel
was restricted last year by assigning teams to local regionals.

“This year we get to be back to pre-9/11 policies,”
Vydra said. “We get to be fair about assigning teams and not
have to worry about air travel.”

There are future changes in store as well.

In 2005, the NCAA is planning to create a postseason structure
similar to baseball, with 64 teams sent to 16 regional sites.

The 16 regional site winners would go on to eight super-regional
sites, and the winners of these go on to the Women’s College
World Series.

All of these changes are a radical departure from the old
selection criteria that allowed UCLA to host regionals for three
straight years from 1999 to 2001.

So, unless UCLA makes the appropriate changes to keep up with
the NCAA’s policies, do not expect a regional in Westwood any
time soon.