Stony Brook, N.Y. - After wrapping up the America East championship on Saturday, the Stony Brook softball team was selected to play in the Columbia Regional with host Missouri (the No. 6 overall seed), Oregon State and Hofstra, as announced Sunday night on the NCAA Tournament selection show.
Stony Brook will open the NCAA Tournament against Missouri on Friday at 7:30 p.m. EST. The game will be shown live on ESPN3.
"This is a very exciting opportunity for our program," said head coach Megan Bryant. "There are four very good teams in the regional with four very good number one pitchers. We'll have our work cut out for us, but we have good confidence coming out of the conference tournament and we want to go, play hard and enjoy the experience."
The Seawolves (35-23) refused to lose at the America East Tournament, winning four straight elimination games, including two against top-seed Albany, to clinch the program's second conference crown. SophomoreAllison Cukrov (Irvine, Calif.) was named the Tournament's Most Outstanding Player after posting a 3-1 record with a 1.11 ERA at the competition.
Stony Brook is the third No. 4 seed in America East history to win the championship (Maine 2004, Albany 2007), and is only the second team in conference history to lose its opening game and win the tournament (Hofstra 1999).
Stony Brook previously qualified for the NCAA Tournament in 2008 and was placed in the Tempe Regional with host Arizona State, Mississippi State and Hawaii. The Seawolves battled hard in a 2-0 defeat against the Sun Devils, before dropping an 8-3 decision to Mississippi State.
Regionals for the NCAA Division I Softball Championship will be held May 16-19 on 16 campus sites. At each campus site, a four-team, double-elimination tournament will be conducted and the 16 winning teams advance to the Super Regionals.
