Conference USA will send a league-record five teams to the 2004 NCAA Softball Championship. The league sent a previous high of three teams in 2001 when DePaul, USF, and Southern Miss all claimed bids. With five teams earning selections this year, C-USA claims the fourth-most behind the Pac-10 (8), SEC (7), and the Big Ten (6) conferences, along with the Big 12 who will also send five.

DePaul (29-29-1) earned an automatic bid after clinching the 2004 C-USA Tournament title for the third consecutive year. The Blue Demons will make their eighth straight appearance and will square off against Notre Dame (48-18) in Ann Arbor, Mich. at 3 p.m. (EDT) on May 20. DePaul split a doubleheader with the Fighting Irish earlier this season on April 27.

Houston (38-23) will make its first appearance in the NCAA tournament since the program’s first year in 2001. The Cougars posted three victories over nationally-ranked opponents this season. UH will face Big East champion Seton Hall (44-17) on May 20 in Waco, Texas at 3 p.m. (EDT).

In the program’s fifth year, Louisville (40-17) earned an at-large bid for the first time. U of L (40-17) will travel to Los Angeles to play Missouri (27-24) Thursday, May 20 at 5 p.m. (EDT). The Cardinals registered 16 shutouts this season and strung together 13 straight wins for the eighth-most in league history.

USF (57-12) will travel to Tallahassee, Fla. on May 20 to play Ohio St. (32-24) at 10 a.m. (EDT), after claiming its second consecutive at-large bid. The Bulls are currently ranked No. 17 in both the USA Today/NFCA and ESPN.com/USA Softball polls. With 57 wins, USF has recorded the second most wins in a single season in conference history. The 57 mark also ties the Bulls’ program record for wins.

C-USA regular season champion Southern Miss (32-24) earned its fourth NCAA appearance. The Golden Eagles will travel to Palo Alto, Calif. to face Pacific (34-21) at 6 p.m. (EDT) on May 20. Throughout the season, USM has competed in nine games against Top 25 non-conference teams, the most of any C-USA school.

Eight teams will participate at each of eight regional sites in a double-elimination tournament. Eight teams will be seeded and each of the seeded teams will be placed at one of the regional sites. The regional winners advance to the Women’s College World Series (WCWS), an eight-team, double-elimination tournament. (Note: The championship final is a single-game final.) Regionals will be conducted May 20-23. The WCWS will be conducted May 27-31 at ASA Hall of Fame Stadium in Oklahoma City.


NCAA Regional Dates/Sites/Pairings

Region No. 2 - May 20-23 at Los Angeles
*denotes host institution
*No. 1 seed UCLA (39-9)
No. 2 seed Alabama (42-18)
No. 3 seed Long Beach State (48-11)
No. 4 seed Louisville (40-17)
No. 5 seed Missouri (27-24
No. 6 seed Cornell (39-11)
No. 7 seed Central Michigan (32-17)
No. 8 seed Mississippi Valley (31-13)

Region No. 3 - May 20-23 at Waco, Texas
No. 1 seed LSU (50-10)
No. 2 seed Illinois (41-19-1)
*No. 3 seed Baylor (45-14)
No. 4 seed Seton Hall (44-17)
No. 5 seed Houston (38-23)
No. 6 seed North Carolina (43-20)
No. 7 seed Texas-San Antonio (37-15)
No. 8 seed Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (39-19)

Region No. 4 - May 20-23 at Tallahassee, Florida
*No. 1 seed Florida State (40-18)
No. 2 seed Oregon (38-19)
No. 3 seed USF (57-12)
No. 4 seed Florida (40-18)
No. 5 seed Cal State Northridge (33-17)
No. 6 seed Ohio State (34-23)
No. 7 seed Bethune-Cookman (44-26)
No. 8 seed Long Island (27-26)

Region No. 6 - May 20-23 at Ann Arbor, Michigan
*No. 1 seed Michigan (50-10)
No. 2 seed Tennessee (53-14)
No. 3 seed Oregon State (40-26)
No. 4 seed Notre Dame (48-18)
No. 5 seed DePaul (29-29-1)
No. 6 seed Bowling Green (34-28)
No. 7 seed Illinois-Chicago (38-21)
No. 8 seed Canisius (23-28)

Region No. 7 - May 20-23 at Stanford, California
*No. 1 seed Stanford (43-16)
No. 2 seed Auburn (42-15)
No. 3 seed Fresno State (47-18)
No. 4 seed Pacific (California) (34-21)
No. 5 seed Southern Miss (32-24)
No. 6 seed Southern Illinois (42-15)
No. 7 seed Hofstra (34-19)
No. 8 seed Utah (23-31)