LAFAYETTE – No. 22 Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns Softball received its assignment for the program's 23rd consecutive appearance in the NCAA Division I Softball Tournament on Sunday, May 15 when it was revealed during the Selection Show that the squad was placed into the NCAA Clemson Regional at McWhorter Stadium in Clemson, South Carolina.
Scheduled for Friday-Sunday, May 20-22, the NCAA Clemson Regional will feature No. 10 national seed Clemson (39-15), Auburn (38-15), Louisiana (45-11), and UNCW (32-13).
Action in the NCAA Clemson Regional begins on Friday (May 20) with Clemson and UNCW at 11:00 a.m. (CT) on the ACC Network followed by Louisiana and Auburn at 1:30 p.m. (CDT) on ESPN+.
The winner of the regional will play the winner of the NCAA Stillwater Regional which features No. 7 national seed Oklahoma State (41-12), Nebraska (40-14), North Texas (35-14), and Fordham (30-20) in the super regional round the following week for a trip to the Women's College World Series scheduled for June 2-10 in Oklahoma City.
Louisiana, the Sun Belt Conference’s regular-season and tournament champions for the third consecutive completed season (2019, 2021-22), secured its spot in collegiate softball's premier postseason event by capturing the league’s automatic bid on Saturday, May 14 in Mobile, Alabama.
The Ragin’ Cajuns used their power at the plate to clinch the title, and secure the auto-bid, by launching four home runs in a six-run fifth inning that put Texas State away in the 7-1 championship-game triumph. It marked Louisiana’s 17th overall SBC Tournament title in the 22-year history of the event.
Heading into the NCAA Tournament, Louisiana carries a season-high, 13-game winning streak and has won 22 of its past 23 games dating back to April 8.
It's the 31st appearance overall in the past 32 editions of the NCAA Tournament for the nationally recognized program. Since 1990, the Ragin' Cajuns have missed the NCAA's postseason event only once (1998).
LOUISIANA SOFTBALL NCAA POSTSEASON FACTS
- Louisiana's 31 NCAA Tournament appearances rank eighth (8th) in NCAA history.
- Louisiana is just one of nine schools to play in the NCAA Tournament every year since 2000. The list includes Alabama, Arizona, Florida State, Michigan, Notre Dame, Oklahoma, UCLA, and Washington.
- The Ragin' Cajuns are 69-40 all-time in the NCAA Regional round, including a 35-13 mark in claiming regional championships and advancing to the super regional round in seven of the previous 13 appearances (2008-19, 2021).
- The program's all-time overall record in the NCAA Tournament stands at 81-63, representing the 13th-most wins in NCAA history.
- Louisiana has advanced to Championship Sunday of an NCAA Regional in each of its last 13 appearances (2008-19, 2021).
- This will be Louisiana's first trip to Clemson for an NCAA Regional. It will also be the program's first-ever appearance in the State of South Carolina in the NCAA postseason.
- The trip to Clemson, South Carolina will mark Louisiana’s furthest distance traveled for the regional round of the NCAA Tournament since the super regional format was introduced in 2005. The 704 miles to Clemson tops the previous furthest traveled back in 2005 when the program was sent to Norman, Oklahoma (578 miles).
TICKET INFO
General public ticket sales are scheduled to begin on Tuesday, May 17. More details are forthcoming.
CLEMSON REGIONAL SCHEDULE
Friday, May 20
Game 1: Clemson vs. UNCW – 11:00am (CDT)
Game 2: Auburn vs. Louisiana – 1:30pm (CDT)
Saturday, May 21
Game 3: Game 1 Winner vs Game 2 Winner – 12:00pm (CDT)
Game 4: Game 1 Loser vs Game 2 Loser – 2:30pm (CDT)
Game 5: Game 3 Loser vs Game 4 Winner – 5:00pm (CDT)
Sunday, May 22
Game 6: Game 3 Winner vs Game 5 Winner – 11:00am (CDT)
Game 7: (if necessary) – 1:30pm (CDT)
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