MOUNTAIN WEST SOFTBALL TO SEND A RECORD THREE TEAMS TO POSTSEASON PLAY

BYU, San Diego State and Utah will represent league at NCAA Softball Championship

San Diego State's Tamani Wells
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May 14, 2006

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - The Mountain West Conference will send a record three teams to postseason play. BYU, San Diego State and Utah will represent the league in the 2006 NCAA Softball Championship. The Utes earned the automatic bid to the championship with their 5-4 win over the Aztecs in last week's Mountain West Conference Softball Championship in Las Vegas.

The Division I championship consists of 64 teams. Eight teams will participate at each of eight regional sites in a double-elimination tournament. The top 16 teams were seeded nationally and will play at campus sites this weekend.

The Cougars (42-20) will host the Provo Regional and will begin with competition from Kansas (34-24) on Thursday, May 18. The other opening day game in Provo, Utah, will feature Southern Utah (34-30) vs. No. 14 Washington (32-23).

The Aztecs (32-13) were placed in the Los Angeles Regional on the campus of UCLA and will start off with instate-rival Long Beach State (30-20) on Friday, May 19. The other opening day game in Los Angeles will be site host and top-ranked UCLA (43-7) vs. Missouri State (40-15).

Utah will compete in the Austin Regional on the campus of Texas. The Utes will open with Indiana (29-23-1) on Friday, May 19. The other game on the first day in Austin, Texas, pits host and third-ranked Texas (49-7) vs. Texas-San Antonio (37-12). Game times for all games will be determined at a later date.

Team pairings were determined by geographical proximity, with the exception that teams from the same conference were not paired during regional competition, when possible.

The regional winners will advance to the super regional competition for a best-of-three series May 26-27 (Memorial Day Weekend) at eight campus sites.

The remaining eight teams will advance to the Women's College World Series (WCWS), an eight-team, double elimination tournament. The championship final will be a best-of-three-series. The WCWS will be conducted June 1-7 at ASA Hall of Fame Stadium in Oklahoma City, Okla.

-MWC-