Wright State travels to Evanston, Ill., for NCAA Softball Regional

May 13, 2007

Dayton, Ohio - The Wright State softball team will take on Northwestern in the opening round of the NCAA regionals as the pairings were announced Sunday afternoon.

The Raiders and Wildcats will meet on Friday, May 13, at 3:30 Easterntime at Sharon J. Drysdale Field on the Northwestern campus. Theopening game of the regional has Illinois State facing Notre Dame Fridayat 1:00 Eastern.

Three games in the double-elimination tournament will be played onSaturday with the championship game or games set for Sunday.

Northwestern, ranked #6 nationally in the latest USA Today/NFCA Top 25 Softball Poll, was the Big Ten runner-up in both the regular season and in the tournament, falling to Ohio State 2-1 in the conferencechampionship game on Saturday.

The Wildcats (45-11) have clubbed 76 home runs as a team this season,led by senior first baseman Garland Cooper, who has 27 home runs alongwith 67 RBI. Sophomore shortstop Tammy Williams is hitting .417 with 13home runs and 42 RBI, freshman second baseman Nicole Pauly has 11 homersand 55 RBI and sophomore catcher Erin Dyer has 11 round trippers alongwith 41 RBI. In the circle, Northwestern is led by senior EileenCanney, who is 27-9 with a 1.69 ERA and 303 strikeouts in 220 innings,along with freshman Lauren Delaney, who is 18-2 with a 1.63 ERA and 184strikeouts in 150 innings.

Illinois State (42-15-1), ranked #22 in the USA Today/NFCA Poll,finished second in the regular-season Missouri Valley Conferencestandings before falling the MVC semifinals. The Redbirds have hit 82home runs on the season and are paced by sophomore designated playerJessie Buker, who's hitting .324 with 16 home runs and 48 RBI. IllinoisState also features sophomore first baseman Amber Smith (.343, 15 HR, 40RBI) and senior right fielder Kelsey Warning (.300, 15 HR, 53 RBI).Pitching wise, senior Shannon Nicholson is 20-6 with a 1.51 ERA whilesenior Stacy Birk is 19-8 with a 2.24 ERA.

Notre Dame (31-22) lost 3-2 to Louisville in the Big East championshipgame on Saturday in South Bend. The Fighting Irish finished fourth inthe conference standings behind DePaul, South Florida and Louisville.Senior center fielder Stephanie Brown leads Notre Dame with a .432batting average to go with 40 runs scored and 13 stolen bases along withfreshman third baseman Heather Johnson (.293, 35 RBI) and senior catcherGessica Hufnagle (.295, 25 RBI). Sophomore Brittney Bargar is 22-13with a 2.12 ERA and 224 strikeouts in 234 innings.

Wright State (25-33), which is making its second all-time appearance inthe NCAA Tournament (2003), is just one of two teams in the 64-teamfield with a below .500 record, the other being Furman (21-34-1). TheRaiders, who were the #7 seed at last weekend's Horizon LeagueTournament, went 4-0 to claim the title, capped off by a 7-3 win ineight innings Saturday over host Cleveland State 7-3 in the championshipgame.

NCAA Evanston Regional schedule (All Times Eastern):

Friday, May 18
1:00 p.m.: Game 1 -- Notre Dame vs. Illinois State
3:30 p.m.: Game 2 -- Northwestern vs. Wright State

Saturday, May 19
Noon: Game 3 -- Winner Game 1 vs. Winner Game 2
2:30 p.m.: Game 4 -- Loser Game 1 vs. Loser Game 2
5:00 p.m.: Game 5 -- Winner Game 4 vs. Loser Game 3

Sunday, May 20
1:00 p.m.: Game 6 -- Winner Game 3 vs. Winner Game 5
3:30 p.m.: Game 7 -- Winner Game 6 vs. Loser Game 6 (if necessary).