| Danielle Kinley |
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa.; May 13, 2007 - The Penn State softball team (26-23) was selected to its seventh NCAA tournament bid in the past eight years on Sunday. The Nittany Lions will head to the Columbia, S.C. regional, which includes No. 15 seed NC State (41-19), South Carolina (34-23), and Oregon (42-17). Penn State will take on Oregon at 4:00 p.m. on Friday, May 18 to kick off tournament action. The Nittany Lions are 0-3 all-time against the Ducks, with the first meeting coming in 2003. In the Carolina Classic earlier this season, Penn State defeated NC State, 5-3 and are now tied 1-1 in the all-time series. The Lions are 1-7 against host South Carolina and first met the Gamecocks in 1981.
Regional action runs from Friday, May 18-Sunday, May 20 and is double elimination format. The top team from each of 16 Regionals across the country will move on to a Super Regional the following weekend, May 25-26. The Women??s College World Series will be held from May 31-June 6, 2007 in Oklahoma City, Okla. at ASA Hall of Fame Stadium.
Penn State has previously received bids in 1985, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2005 and 2006. Seven of the Lions' eight bids have come under current head coach Robin Petrini. The Lions have a 8-12 overall record in the tournament, including a win each in 2000 and 2003 and a pair of wins each in 2001, 2002, 2005 and last year at Hofstra.
The Lions were one of four Big Ten schools to receive invitations to the NCAA Tournament including 2007 conference champion Ohio State, No. 2 seed Northwestern, and No. 9 seed Michigan.
For complete information on the Lions' trip to the NCAA Tournament including game times, ticket information, and live stat and audio availability, please check back all week to www.GoPSUsports.com, the official website of Penn State Athletics.
NCAA Tournament-Columbia Regional
Friday, May 18
4 p.m. Game 1: Oregon vs. Penn State
7 p.m. Game 2: N.C. State vs. South Carolina
Saturday, May 19
1 p.m. Game 3: Game 1 Winner vs. Game 2 Winner
4 p.m. Game 4: Game 1 Loser vs. Game 2 Loser
7 p.m. Game 5: Game 3 Loser vs. Game 4 Winner
Sunday, May 20
1 p.m. Game 6: Game 3 Winner vs. Game 5 Winner
4 p.m. Game 7: (if necessary)