BYU to Play in Seattle Regional

PROVO, Utah -- In its seventh-straight NCAA tournament appearance, the BYU softball team will play in the Seattle Regional starting Thursday.

BYU (38-16) is coming off its third-straight Mountain West Conference title and will begin Regional play against Auburn (39-17). The Cougars and Tigers will face off at 3:30 p.m. PT on Thursday.

The meeting will be the first between BYU and Auburn.

"We are excited for a chance to play in the Seattle Regional," said BYU head coach Gordon Eakin. "We've never had a chance to play there before. We understand it's an awesome place to play and we're looking forward to the experience."

Auburn most recently defeated the tournament's No. 4 seed, Florida, in the SEC tournament before losing to No. 14 seed Tennessee. The Tigers recently cracked both top-25 polls, sitting at No. 23 and No. 24, respectively.

The Cougars will face No. 12-seed and host Washington (34-14) or Portland State (34-16) on Friday. Regional format is set up such that a group of four teams play in a double elimination format where the winners and losers of the first two games play each either and continue on until every team but one has lost twice.