University of Louisiana at Lafayette Athletics
Cajuns Awarded Fifth Straight NCAA Bid, Headed To Fullerton, Calif.
5/11/2003 12:00:00 AM | Softball
Sunday, May 11, 2003
The Ragin' Cajuns (43-8), three-time defending champions of the Sun Belt Conference, are a No. 4 seed and will venture out west to Fullerton, Calif., for a regional hosted by Cal State Fullerton, the No. 6 national seed.
The selection marks the Cajuns 13th regional appearance in the last 14 years and the third straight in as many years for head coach Stefni Lotief.
UL Lafayette will face No. 5 seed San Diego State (37-18) on Thursday, May 15 at 11 a.m. (CDT) in the opening round of the eight-team regional field at the Titan Softball Complex.
The winner of the Cajuns-SDSU tilt will meet the winner of No. 1 seed CS Fullerton (39-13) and No. 8 seed Rider College (24-23) at 1:30 p.m. (CDT) Friday, May 16 in the semifinals of the winner's bracket. The losers of the two games will meet in an elimination game Thursday at 9 p.m. (CDT).
The other participants in the Cal State Fullerton Regional include: No. 2 seed Oklahoma State, No. 3 seed Oregon, No. 6 seed Penn State and No. 7 seed Boston University.
The Cajuns, winners of 28 of their last 31 contests and six straight, will be making their second trip to Fullerton this season. Earlier in the season UL Lafayette participated in the KIA Klassic from March 13-14 hosted by CSF.
UL Lafayette will be appearing in a regional tournament outside the state of Louisiana for the first time since 1999 when the Cajuns were sent to Amherst, Mass. This is just the third time in 13 NCAA Tournament appearances that the Cajuns have been sent out-of-state.
The Cajuns and SDSU have met just once before in program history doing so during the 1998 KIA Klassic in Fullerton, Calif. UL Lafayette won that meeting 10-2 on March 20, 1998.
For the second time in three years, the San Diego State softball program, which captured the 2003 Mountain West Conference regular-season title and advanced to this year's finals of the MWC tournament, received an at-large bid to the NCAA Championships.
This year's berth marks the second time in the history of the program that the Aztecs (38-19) have appeared in the national tournament.
With program-bests in overall winning percentage (.667) and conference winning percentage (.800), the 2003 Aztec team set records for consecutive wins (13) and single-season strikeouts with 350, which is also a Mountain West Conference record.
UL Lafayette faced only one of the regional teams during the regular season - America East Conference champion Boston University. The Cajuns handed the Terriers back-to-back 8-0 run-rule defeats on March 10 at Lady Cajun Park.
Seed No. 6 - May 15-18 at
Fullerton, California
No. 1 seed *Cal State Fullerton (39-13)
No. 2 seed Oklahoma State (36-13)
No. 3 seed Oregon (32-17)
No. 4 seed Louisiana-Lafayette (43-8)
No. 5 seed San Diego State (37-18)
No. 6 seed Penn State (30-21)
No. 7 seed Boston U. (33-21)
No. 8 seed Rider (24-23)
Schedule of Games
Thursday, May 15, 2003
Game 1 - 11 a.m. (CDT) - No. 4 UL
Lafayette vs. No. 5 San Diego State
Game 2 - 1:30 p.m. (CDT) - No. 1 CS Fullerton vs. No. 8
Rider College
Game 3 - 4 p.m. (CDT) - No. 3 Oregon vs. No. 6 Penn
State
Game 4 - 6:30 p.m. (CDT) - No. 2 Oklahoma State vs. No.
7 Boston University
Game 5 - 9 p.m. (CDT) - Loser Game 1 vs. Loser Game 2
-- Ragin' Cajuns --
