Aggie Softball Earns No. 16 National Seed, Host Site

COLLEGE STATION, Texas – Texas A&M earned a No. 16 national seed as the NCAA softball committee revealed the field of 64 late Sunday night. The Aggies will host Baylor, Arizona and Penn in a nationally-televised regional beginning Friday.

The Aggies (39-15) earned an at-large bid for their 24th postseason appearance, stretching the berth streak to 12-straight. A&M will host Ivy League Champion Penn (30-18) Friday at 5 p.m. on ESPN2. Baylor (39-15) was also an at-large selection and will play Arizona (32-24) in the regional opener at 2:30 p.m. Friday on ESPN2. All times are Central.

The Quakers were automatic qualifiers to their first-ever NCAA postseason after winning the Ivy League Tournament last weekend. The Lady Bears and Wildcats were both at-large bids.

The Aggies will host their third-straight regional, with all of the action available on ESPN2. The College Station Regional was chosen by ESPN analyst Michele Smith as the most difficult competition of the nation’s sixteen regional sites.

“It’s huge being at home,” Head Coach Jo Evans said. “We don’t take it for granted in any way, but it’s something we expect to do every year. Every game we play, we play with the intention of being able to host; to get one of these seeds so that we can host. Our crowd is great, they always are. They come out en masse and they create the greatest atmosphere that we could ask for. We’re excited to play in front of the 12th Man.”

All-Regional tickets will be $25 for reserved, $20 for general admission and $15 for student/youth GA. Single-day tickets will be sold for $10 for reserved seats, $7 for GA and $5 for student/youth GA. Children under the age of two will be admitted for free.

To purchase tickets, log on to 12thmanfoundation.com/tickets, call 979-845-2311 or 1-888-992-4443 (toll free), or go to the box office at The Zone at Kyle Field. All-session tickets are on sale now to 12th Man members only, and will go on sale to the public Tuesday at 6 p.m., while single-day tickets will go on sale Friday at 8 a.m. A&M softball season ticket holders’ passes will be held until 5 p.m. Monday.

The SEC led the nation with 11 teams in the tournament, including seven seeded hosts. The Pac-12 followed with eight, and the Big Ten, Atlantic Coast Conference and Conference USA each had four qualifiers.

The Division I softball championship sets a field of 64 teams. Thirty conferences were awarded automatic qualification, and the remaining 34 slots were filled with at-large selections to complete the bracket. The top 16 teams were seeded nationally.

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 advance to super regional competition for a best-of-three series May 23-26 at eight campus sites. The remaining eight teams advance to the WCWS, an eight-team, double-elimination tournament. The championship final will be a best-of-three-series. The WCWS will be conducted May 30-June 5 at the ASA Hall of Fame Stadium in Oklahoma City.

All of Texas A&M’s postseason games will be broadcast live on either 95.1-3 The Zone HD or Sports Radio 1150 AM, and all can be heard via AggieAthletics.com and RadioAggieland.com. To learn more about Texas A&M softball, log on to AggieAthletics.com and follow @AggieSoftball on Twitter.


NCAA College Station Regional (All times CT)

Friday, May 17
Game 1: Baylor vs. Arizona – 2:30 p.m. on ESPN2
Game 2: No. 16 Texas A&M vs. Penn – 5 p.m. on ESPN2

Saturday, May 18
Game 3: Game 1 winner vs. Game 2 winner – 2 p.m. on ESPN2
Game 4: Game 1 loser vs. Game 2 loser – 4:30 p.m. on ESPN2
Game 5: Game 4 winner vs. Game 3 loser – 7 p.m. on ESPN2

Sunday, May 19
Game 6: Game 3 winner vs. Game 5 winner – 2:30 p.m. on ESPN2
Game 7: Rematch if necessary – 5 p.m. on ESPN2

*Game times are subject to change.

Story courtesy of Texas A&M Athletics

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