Three Teams Heading to NCAA Softball Championship

Cal State Fullerton junior pitcher Candice Baker ranks eighth on the Big West single season list with 249 strikeouts this season. She helped the Titans to the Big West regular season title and an automatic bid to the NCAA Softball Championship. Photo by Matt A. Brown

Conference champion Cal State Fullerton, along with at large selections Long Beach State and UC Santa Barbara, represented the Big West in the 2006 NCAA Division I Softball Championship 64-team bracket that was announced by the NCAA selection committee Sunday. The Big West has sent multiple teams to the postseason in all 22 seasons of sponsoring softball.

Each Big West school was placed in one of 16 four-team regionals that will be played on campus sites in a double elimination format. The Titans, 49ers and Gauchos are all in regionals that take place from Friday, May 19 through Sunday, May 21. The winner of each regional advances to a best of three NCAA Super Regional the following weekend.

Cal State Fullerton earned a trip to the Fresno Regional, joining Tulsa, Stanford and host Fresno State. The Titans open up play against the Bulldogs. The Titans won their fifth Big West title in the last seven years to capture the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Championship. CSF has reached the postseason for the seventh time in the last eight seasons, appearing in an NCAA Regional for the 22nd time overall. The program is familiar with postseason treks to Fresno, most recently in 2002 and 2000.

Long Beach State is making its fourth straight NCAA postseason appearance after a second place finish in Big West play and 30-20 overall record. The 49ers travel the short distance north to the Los Angeles Regional. LBSU faces fellow at large selection San Diego State in the opening game of the regional, which also features Missouri State and the host UCLA Bruins. The LBSU and SDSU match-up will be aired live on ESPNU on Friday at 2:30 p.m. This is the 17th overall NCAA appearance for the 49ers, which also played at UCLA in a regional in 2004, 2000, 1989 and 1987.

UC Santa Barbara reached the NCAA's for the second time in program history, on the heels of its first appearance in 2004. The Gauchos lost twice in the Tucson Regional to Temple and Northwestern that year. The Gauchos are reunited in postseason play with Northwestern, heading off to the Evanston Regional in Evanston, Ill. The Gauchos square off against Notre Dame in their opener. The host Wildcats entertain Southern Illinois in the other game. The Gauchos are one of only three teams in the 64-team field with fewer than 30 wins, entering postseason with a 24-20 record. UCSB is 7-10 against teams in this year's tournament field.