University of Minnesota Athletics
Softball to Host NCAA Regional Championship
5/13/2002 12:00:00 AM | Softball
Minnesota enters the tournament as the No. 3 seed and will open play against No. 4 Princeton in game three on Thursday at 5 p.m. No. 1 seed Arizona will face No. 6 Boston University in game one at noon and No. 2 DePaul will play No. 5 Penn State in game two at 2:30 p.m. The losers of game one and game two will play in the fourth game at 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday game times are 2:30, 5:00 and 7:30 p.m. Sunday's games will be played at noon and 2:30 p.m. (the championship game).
Tickets for the tournament are available in either single-day or all- session passes. Please call the Gopher Ticket Office at 612-624-8080 or 1-800-U-GOPHER to reserve tickets.
Tickets for the tournament are available through the Gopher Ticket Offce. Please call 612-624-8080 to reserve tickets. All-session passes are available beginning Monday, and single day passes will be available on Thursday. Ticket prices are as follows:
All-session reserved - $50 (all ages) All-session general admission - $35 (adult) All-session general admission - $15 (youth, seniors, U of M students) Single day reserved - $15 (all ages) Single day general admission - $10 (adult) Single day general admission - $5 (youth, seniors, U of M students) The NCAA Division I Women's Softball Committee selected teams from the following eight regions to participate in the championship: Central, East, Northeast, South, Mideast, Midwest, West and Pacific. Twenty-two conferences have been granted automatic qualification for the 2002 championship. Four conferences will participate in a play-in to determine the remaining two automatic berths.
The Gophers are one of six Big Ten institutions to compete in the regional championships. Michigan and Iowa are also host institutions.
Minnesota concluded the regular season 35-19 overall and 7-8 in conference play.
Defending Women's College World Series (WCWS) Champion Arizona is one of eight No. 1 seeds to play on the road. The Wildcats were ranked No. 2 in the final NFCA/USA Today regular season poll. DePaul was No. 16 while the other four teams in Region 2 were not ranked.
Co-head coaches Lisa Bernstein and Julie Standering both played for the Arizona Widcats during their collegiate careers. Bernstein also served as an assistant coach for the Wildcats from 1987-1991.
Each of the eight regional champions will advance to the WCWS. The WCWS will be held May 23-27 at the Amateur Sports Association's Hall of Fame Stadium in Oklahoma City, Okla.
