Beavers Head to Michigan to Face Louisville

No. 15 Oregon State earns ninth straight NCAA Regional Tournament appearance.

Head coach Kirk Walker leads his team to their ninth straight NCAA appearance as OSU will face Louisville on Friday in Michigan. Photo: OSU Athletics

CORVALLIS, Ore. - Making their ninth consecutive NCAA Regional Tournament appearance, the No. 15 ranked Oregon State University softball team will face University of Louisville, as was announced by the NCAA selection committee on Sunday afternoon.

The Beavers (39-21) will face the Cardinals (36-23) at 1:30 PM PDT in the first game of Friday’s competition in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Oregon State is one of 64 NCAA Division I schools selected to compete at 16 regional sites for a chance to advance to the Women’s College World Series from May 31st-June 6th, in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

The other half of Oregon State’s bracket pits host No. 9 seed University of Michigan (43-11) against Eastern Michigan University (27-20).

“We are extremely excited to be competing again in postseason play” said OSU head coach Kirk Walker. “The fact that we’ve been to Michigan before helps because our athletes know what to expect – this is a very strong regional.”

Oregon State competed in the Ann Arbor Regional during the 2004 campaign – the freshman season for current Beaver seniors Ta'Tyana McElroy, Mia Longfellow, Natalie Johnson, Sherina Galvan, and Brianne McGowan.

At the time, the NCAA postseason field had eight teams competing at each Regional with the winner earning a berth in the Women’s College World Series.

With many of the games delayed due to “tornadic conditions” the 2004 Beaver team eventually lost to host Michigan in the tournament championship game – allowing the Wolverines to advance to the WCWS.

“It’s exciting to get a chance to play again in Michigan,” said McElroy. “Our freshman year we came up short so it’s nice to be able to go back and have another opportunity as seniors.”

The current tournament format is double elimination with the winner of each regional advancing to the Super Regional – a best of two out of three game series.

The eight Super Regional winners advance to the 2007 Women’s College World Series.

Other schools in Oregon State’s region include No. 8 seeded Baylor University, Albany, Hofstra, and Harvard.

The Beavers have a 23-14 overall record in their eight previous trips to the Regional Tournament and have reached the championship game on six occasions (1999, 2000, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006).

OSU will face Louisville for just the second time in program history.

The Cardinals won the BIG EAST Conference Tournament to earn their fourth straight NCAA Regional Tournament appearance.

Tournament action runs from Friday, May 18th through Sunday, May 20th.

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