OU Headed to Amherst as No. 3 Seed

NORMAN, Okla. The No. 2 Oklahoma softball team (52-6), winners of the Big 12 Championship, will be making its 14th straight appearance in the NCAA Tournament this Friday as the No. 3 national seed when it travels east for the second straight year. The Sooners will join host school Massachusetts (37-12-1) as well as Long Island (33-20) and Colgate (25-22) in the Amherst Regional.

The regional (May 18-20) is double-elimination and runs through Sunday at the UMass Softball Complex. The winner of the Amherst Regional will match up with the winner of the Carbondale, Ill., Regional between No. 14 DePaul, Mississippi Valley State, Southern Illinois and Missouri in the Super Regionals (May 25-26).

OU received its highest national seed, No. 3, since the NCAA began the new format of seeding 16 different teams and placing them at a different regional two years ago. The Sooners are one of three Big 12 teams that were seeded nationally, ahead of No. 4 Texas A&M and No. 8 Baylor. Within the Amherst Regional, Oklahoma is the top seed followed by Massachusetts, Long Island and Colgate rounding out the field as the fourth overall seed.

Amherst Regional

Oklahoma is slated to play Colgate in opening round action on at 1 p.m. (CST) on Friday, May 18. Massachusetts will take on Long Island in its opening game of the tournament at 3:30 p.m. (CST) on Friday.

The Division I championship provides for a field of 64 teams. The championship will be extended to three weekends of competition. Four teams will participate at each of 16 regional sites in a double-elimination tournament. Sixteen teams were seeded and placed at one of the regional sites.

The regional winners will advance to super regional competition for a best-of-three series May 25-26 at eight campus sites.

The remaining eight teams will advance to the WCWS, an eight-team, double-elimination tournament. The championship final will a best-of-three-series. The WCWS will be conducted May 31-June 6 at the ASA Hall of Fame Stadium in Oklahoma City.

May 13

Senior Norrelle Dickson on the team's attitude heading into regionals

Eckermann on the team's momentum from the Big 12 Championship

Schedule
Below is the schedule for the Amherst Regional
All times Eastern

Friday, May 18
Game 1: #1 Oklahoma vs. #4 Colgate) 2:00 PM (1 PM CST)
Game 2: #2 Massachusetts vs. #3 Long Island 4:30 PM (3:30 PM CST)

Saturday, May 19
Game 3: Winner Game 1 vs. Winner Game 2 12:00 PM (11 a.m. CST)
Game 4: Loser Game 1 vs. Loser Game 2 2:30 PM (1:30 p.m. CST)
Game 5: Loser Game 3 vs. Winner Game 4 5:00 PM (4 p.m. CST)

Sunday, May 20
Game 6: Winner Game 3 vs. Winner Game 5 12:00 PM (11 a.m. CST)
Game 7: Same teams (if necessary) 2:30 PM (1:30 p.m. CST)

Massachusetts (37-12-1)
This is the 13th straight and 17th overall NCAA Tournament for the Minutewomen, who are receiving votes in the latest top-25 poll. Last year, UMass hosted its first regional since 1999 and won three games in a row while advancing to the school's first-ever Super Regional and took eventual national runner-up Northwestern to a decisive third game of the best-of-three-game series. Oklahoma owns a 3-3 mark against UMass in the all-time series. The Sooners traveled to a regional in Amherst in 1998 and lost to UMass twice in the regional as the Minutewomen advanced.

Long Island (33-20)
The Blackbirds were winners of the 2007 Northeast Conference Tournament title and were awarded the league's automatic berth. LIU punched its NCAA Tournament ticket for the second straight year and the sixth time in school history by winning its 10th NEC crown on Saturday. Long Island has also notched key wins over Cal-State Fullerton and Michigan State this season. The Sooners and Blackbirds have never met in their series history.

Colgate (25-22)
Colgate (25-22) will be making its third appearance in the NCAA Tournament with the previous two times coming in 1999 and 2003. Colgate earned the automatic berth after winning the Patriot League. Oklahoma has also never faced Colgate in its history.

Tickets
Tickets for the Amherst Regional will go on sale through the UMass Athletic Ticket Office Monday morning at 9:00 AM ET. All session tickets are available for $20 for adults and $10 for UMass students and children 18 and under while individual day tickets will be sold for $10 for adults and $5 for UMass students and children 18 and under. Tickets are available at the ticket booths outside the UMass Softball Complex on game-day or by calling 1-866-UMASS-TIX. Tickets can also be purchased at the Mullins Center Box Office Monday-Thursday from 9:00 AM-5:00 PM.

University of Oklahoma Athletics

Related News

Related Videos

Sponsors