UW Softball Receives NCAA Bid
May 12, 2002 | Softball
The Wisconsin softball team will make its second-consecutive trip to the NCAA Championship this week as the Badgers were selected as the No. 5 seed at the Iowa City regional. Wisconsin (31-20 overall) will meet No. 2 seed Oregon State (38-23) on Thursday in the opening round of the double-elimination regional bracket.
'We are extremely excited with our bid,' said UW head coach Karen Gallager who met with the team in the McClain Auditorium to watch as the selections were announced. 'It gives us another chance to prove ourselves in the postseason. We were disappointed with how we fared at the Big Ten Tournament and are excited to have an opportunity to showcase Wisconsin softball against some fine teams. I am very happy with our regional placement and believe we can win some games there. '
Also placed at the Iowa City Regional site are No. 1 seed Nebraska, No. 3 seed Notre Dame, No. 4 seed Iowa and No. 6 seed Illinois-Chicago. The winner of the Wisconsin versus Oregon State matchup will meet the winner of Iowa/Notre Dame. The Badgers are 0-4 this season against their possible regional opponents with two losses to Nebraska in early-season tournaments (8-0 and 2-1), a 2-1 loss at UIC and a 5-2 loss to the Hawkeyes in Big Ten action at Goodman Diamond.
The Badgers and Hawkeyes are two of six Big Ten schools selected to the Championship with conference champ Michigan, Ohio State, Penn State and Minnesota also receiving bids.
A total of 48 teams were selected to the tournament and broken up into eight regionals of six teams each. The regional winners advance to the Women 's College World Series, an eight-team, double-elimination tournament to be conducted May 23-27 at the ASA Hall of Fame Stadium in Oklahoma City, Ok.
