Softball Opens NCAA Championship at Home

May 15, 2011

NORMAN, Okla. - The University of Oklahoma softball team received a No. 9 national seed in the 2011 NCAA Division I Women's Softball Championship. The announcement was made to a national audience on ESPNU on Sunday evening. Oklahoma makes its 18th consecutive appearance in the event, including every season of the Patty Gasso era. The Sooners own an 18-15 record against teams in the field of 64.

Oklahoma enters the NCAA Championship at 38-16 on the year and with a ratings percentage index of nine. The Sooners earned an at-large bid from the Big 12 Conference. OU finished fifth in the Big 12 standings.

“We're very excited to be hosting,” said Oklahoma Head Coach Patty Gasso. “I think we were shown some respect for the tough scheduled we played.”

Oklahoma's opening round opponent is the Iona Gaels (29-20), winners of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Championship. The other two teams are Tulsa (43-13) and Missouri State (29-23). The regional is double-elimination and runs through Sunday in Norman. The winner of the Norman Regional will match up with the winner of the Tucson Regional between No. 8 seed Arizona, North Dakota State, New Mexico State and Texas Tech in the Super Regionals.

“We have a lot of respect for the teams in our regional, and the fact that we've played two of the three helps,” Gasso added. “We're anxious to get started and play in front of our home crowd.”

For the fifth year Oklahoma was selected as one of the top 16 seeds in the country. The NCAA began the new format of seeding 16 different teams and placing them at a different regional six years ago.

Oklahoma is slated to play Iona in opening round action on Friday, May 20 at 7:30 p.m. CT. No. 3 seed Missouri State will take on second-seeded Tulsa in its opening game of the tournament at 5 p.m. CT.

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 27-29 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 June 2-8 at the ASA Hall of Fame Stadium in Oklahoma City.

NCAA Regional Ticket Info
All-session tickets for the 2011 NCAA Softball Norman Regional will be on sale online and over the phone beginning Monday, May 16 at 8:00 a.m.

Prices are $40 for reserved all-session tickets, $25 for general admission adult all-session tickets and $20 for general admission youth (2–12 year old & OU students) all-session tickets. Each day of the regional is considered one session and a session ticket is good for all games in one day. The ballpark will not be cleared after each game. Children under two years of age are admitted free. OU students will have to purchase a youth ticket for this event as it is an NCAA sponsored tournament.

If tickets remain, single session tickets will go on sale Friday, May 20 at the OU Softball Complex Box Office at least 90 minutes prior to the first scheduled game. Single session tickets are $15 for reserved tickets, $10 for general admission adult tickets and $8 for general admission youth tickets.

To order all-session tickets, please call 405-325-2424. Orders will be processed on a first-come, first-served basis and are subject to availability.

University of Oklahoma Athletics

Softball Opens NCAA Championship at Home

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