TEMPE ? The Arizona State University softball team will make its 28th appearance in the NCAA Tournament, hitting the road for the Bayou and the Baton Rouge Regional this weekend. The regional will be hosted by the No. 10 overall seed LSU and take place from May 20-22 in Baton Rouge, La.
ASU picked up the No. 3 seed in the region and will open action on Friday against second-seeded McNeese St. (42-12). ?The game is currently scheduled for 3 p.m. local time/1 p.m. PT.
Time to #DoWork. See you in the Bayou!!! #GeauxDevils pic.twitter.com/NHLyoD2ig6
? Sun Devil Softball (@ASUSoftball) May 16, 2016
The Sun Devils (30-24) earned one of 32 at-large bids to the tournament.? ASU is making its second straight appearance in Baton Rouge, a year removed from falling in heartbreaking fashion in extra innings of the “if necessary” game against the hosts last season. ?ASU was one of eight Pac-12 teams selected for this year’s tournament.
The Baton Rouge Regional field features host LSU (45-15), Arizona State, Southland Conference champion McNeese State and Northeast Conference champion LIU Brooklyn (30-25). LSU and LIU Brooklyn will face off after the Sun Devils and the Cowgirls at 6 p.m. local time. The winners of each game will face each other on Saturday while the losers of the first games will battle to stave off double elimination for a chance to advance to the Super Regional.
The Sun Devils are making their 28th appearance in NCAA Tournament history and the 12th consecutive NCAA appearance for ASU. The 28 appearances are the sixth most by any team in this year’s tournament.
ASU is 87-53 all-time in the NCAA Tournament and is 57-19 since 2006 in the tournament. The team has two NCAA Championships and seven trips to the WCWS in that time.
The Sun Devils are playing McNeese State for the first time since 2012 and are 3-1 in the all-time series against the Cowgirls. McNeese won that 2012 tilt, 3-1. McNeese was the Southland Conference regular season and tournament champion with a 16-3 record in conference action. The two teams played several common opponents this season including Texas Tech (ASU won series 3-0 while MSU was 0-2), Baylor (ASU 1-0, MSU 1-2) and Houston (ASU 1-0, MSU 1-1).
With a win, the Devils could get a shot at the host Tigers of LSU. Ranked in the top five for much of the season, the Tigers advanced to the SEC Tournament Championship, falling to Auburn. Should that come about, it would be the eight postseason that the two teams have seen each other.
ASU is 10-6 all-time against the Tigers with two of those losses coming on one day last season as LSU won both games on the final day of the Baton Rouge Regional in 2015, including a tough 4-3 loss for the Devils in extra innings in the regional finale.
ASU is 6-0 all time against LIU Brooklyn, last seeing the Blackbirds in 2012 regional action ? a Sun Devil victory.
The committee held selections on May 13-15. The 64-team field was selected from 295 NCAA Division I institutions sponsoring softball. Of the 64 teams, 32 teams received an
automatic qualification with the remaining best 32 teams were selected on an at-large basis.
Regionals will be held May 20-22 on 16 campus sites. At each campus site, a four-team, double-elimination tournament will be conducted and the 16 winning teams advance to the Super Regionals.
Super Regionals for the championship will be held May 26-29 on eight campus sites. At each site, two teams play in a best-of-three tournament format. The winners from each site advance to the NCAA Women’s College World Series.
The 2016 NCAA Women’s College World Series will be held at ASA Hall of Fame Stadium - OGE Energy Field in Oklahoma City from June 2-8. This is the 35th annual NCAA Division I Softball Championship and the 25th time that Oklahoma City and ASA Hall of Fame Stadium - OGE Energy Field will host this premier college softball championship event.