Provo • Conference championships have been relatively easy to come by for the BYU softball team the past decade or so. Wins in the NCAA Tournament have been much more difficult.
The Cougars, who clinched the West Coast Conference crown for the sixth straight season last weekend by winning two games at Santa Clara, learned their NCAA Regionals destination on Sunday night, and once again it will be a difficult task to advance.
BYU (29-24) will head to the Stillwater (Okla.) Regional and will play the host team, No. 13 Oklahoma State, on Thursday in a first-round game. Arkansas (38-18) and Tulsa (35-18) are also in the double-elimination Stillwater Regional.
Game times and broadcast plans will be announced later.
It will be the 15th straight NCAA Regional appearance for BYU and 16th overall. The Cougars have won 11 straight conference championships in four different leagues.
“We had two great wins tonight over a much-improved Santa Clara team who has been playing very well lately,” BYU coach Gordon Eakin said after the Cougars clinched the championship. “Our pitching was solid in both games. We made great adjustments at the plate and came up with timely hits. As coaches, we are very proud of this team and the conference championship we secured tonight.”
The top team from each of the 16 regional sites will advance to the NCAA Super Regionals May 23-26 on eight campus sites. The winners from each site advance to the NCAA Women’s College World Series.
