FAMU and MVSU headed to Tuscaloosa for
NCAA Softball Regional
May 14, 2006
The Florida A&M Lady Rattler and Mississippi Valley State
Devilette Softball Teams will open their quest for the 2006
NCAA Division I Softball Championships Friday in the Tuscaloosa,
Alabama Regional at the University of Alabama.
FAMU (39-23), winners of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference
title, will tangle with Atlantic Coast Conference foe Georgia
Tech (46-20) at 4:00pm, while host and #5 national seed Alabama
(49-9) of the Southeastern Conference, will take on Southwestern
Athletic Conference (SWAC) champion MVSU (23-28)at 6:30pm.
This will be Florida A&M's third regional
trip since 1999 and their second straight regional invite.
They took part in the Auburn Regional last season and earned
a trip to the West Regional at Fresno (Calif.) State in 1999.
"I'm very excited about
this regional," FAMU coach Veronica Wiggins
said, just moments after the pairings were announced Sunday.
"It really didn't matter who we ended
up with, we're just ready to go and play."
In 1995, 1997 and 1998, the Lady Rattlers participated in
best-of-three NCAA Play-In Series, prior to the tournament
expansion to the current 64-team format in 1999.
Having won the SWAC Softball title three years in a row, this
will be the second consecutive trip for MVSU to the Tuscaloosa
Regional where the Devilettes faced Alabama in 2005.
“The ladies have worked extremely hard all year to get
to this point,” said MVSU head coach Lee Smith. “We
feel very blessed to have enjoyed the success we have and look
forward to carrying momentum into the tournament.”
The Devilettes and Tide have already met twice
this year with Alabama winning both games 6-1 and 7-0 in the
Bama Bash! at the beginning of the season.
Twenty-nine conferences were awarded automatic qualification
to the 64-team field, and the remaining 35 slots were filled
with at-large selections to complete the bracket. The top 16
teams were seeded nationally and will play at campus sites
this weekend.
The winners of the 16 regional bouts will pair off in eight
(8) best two-of-three Super Regional matchups, May 26-28, with
the eight winners advancing to the College World Series in
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, the first weekend in June.
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