NCAA Regional Tournament Field Announced

PROVO -- No. 25 BYU will travel to Austin, Texas to compete in its sixth-straight NCAA regional tournament starting May 20, the NCAA Division I Softball Committee announced Sunday.

“We have a veteran team and there is more excitement than nervousness or apprehension,” said head coach Gordon Eakin. “There will be no surprises and we feel like we deserve to be where we are and have a chance to be successful.”

BYU (43-11) will compete against East Carolina (42-16) at 5 p.m. CST on Thursday, May 20, while host No. 7 Texas (32-13) faces Iona (28-24) at approximately 7:30 p.m. CST. Live stats and streaming video will be available for all games through www.NCAA.com.

“They are a scrappy team and they battle hard,” Eakin said of East Carolina. “They have really good speed and will definitely pose a strong challenge.”

The Cougars are 7-12 all-time in NCAA regional tournament play and look to advance to an NCAA super regional tournament for the first time in the program’s history.

One regional winner will advance to super regional competition for a best-of-three series May 28-29 at eight campus sites.

The remaining eight teams will advance to the Women's College World Series, an eight-team, double-elimination tournament. The championship final will be a best-of-three-series. The Women’s College World Series will be conducted June 3-9 at the ASA Hall of Fame Stadium in Oklahoma City.

Mountain West Conference opponent San Diego State (33-14) received an at-large bid to the 64-team field and will travel to Los Angeles, California, to compete against No. 5 UCLA (40-11), St. Mary’s (CA) (30-21) and Fresno State (39-19) starting May 21.

Games are scheduled Thursday, May 20, Friday, May 21 and Saturday, May 22 at McCombs Field on UT’s campus.

Thursday, May 20
5 p.m. – Game 1: East Carolina vs. BYU (home)
7:30 p.m. – Game 2: Iona vs. Texas (home)
Friday, May 21
TBA – Game 3: Winner Game 1 vs. Winner Game 2
TBA – Game 4: Loser Game 1 vs. Loser Game 2
TBA – Game 5: Winner Game 4 vs. Loser Game 3
Saturday, May 22
TBA – Game 6: Winner Game 3 vs. Winner Game 5
TBA -  35 minutes after conclusion if necessary