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Cougar Softball Headed to Waco for NCAA Regional
5/16/2004 12:00:00 AM | Softball
May 16, 2004
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - After falling in the Conference USA Tournament Championship game to DePaul University Sunday afternoon, the University of Houston softball team awaited news of a NCAA Regional bid. Good news came Sunday evening as the Cougars were slated for Waco, TX, as the No. 5 seed in the Waco Regional of the NCAA Softball Championship where they will take on the No. 4 seeded Seton Hall Pirates at 3:00 p.m. on Thursday, May 20. The regional, hosted by Baylor University, runs through Sunday, May 23, and is a double elimination format.
The Cougars (38-23), who finished fifth in the regular season C-USA rankings, advanced to the finals of the conference tournament after defeating No. 4 DePaul, No. 1 Southern Miss and No. 3 USF. The NCAA Regional bid marks the first time in program history that the Cougars will advance to post season play.
Seton Hall (44-17) earned the BIG EAST's automatic bid Saturday with a win over No. 25 Notre Dame in Syracuse, NY, in the league title game. The Pirates will be making their second NCAA appearance in school history. In 2001, Seton Hall went 0-2 as the No. 5 seed at the Oklahoma City Regional after receiving an at-large bid.
The 64-team tournament features eight regional sites with eight teams in each, seeded from 1 to 8. Should Houston advance, it would play the winner of No. 1 Louisiana State (50-10) vs. No. 8 Texas A&M Corpus Christi (39-19) at 3:00 p.m. on Thursday. A loss would drop the Cougars into the loser's bracket against the loser of the LSU-A&M-Corpus Christi game at 10:00 a.m. on Friday. The other opening day matchups in the Waco Regional feature No. 3 Baylor (45-14) against No. 6 North Carolina (43-20) and No. 7 Texas-San Antonio (37-15) against No. 2 Illinois (41-19-1). LSU earned the No. 3 seed in the nation by the selection committee.
The Cougars have faced three teams from their region this season, compiling a 3-3 against Baylor, TAMU-CC and Texas San Antonio. Houston Beat Baylor 2-1 on February 14 and lost to the Bears twice, 2-0 and 4-3 on March 15, they fell to Corpus Christi 4-3 in 11 innings on February 15 and beat San Antonio twice, 5-3 and 3-1 on March 10.
Region No. 3 - May 20-23 at Waco, Texas
No. 1 seed LSU (50-10)
No. 2 seed Illinois (41-19-1)
*No. 3 seed Baylor (45-14)
No. 4 seed Seton Hall (44-17)
No. 5 seed Houston (38-22)
No. 6 seed North Carolina (43-20)
No. 7 seed Texas-San Antonio (37-15)
No. 8 seed Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (39-19)