JACKSONVILLE – The Jacksonville State softball team learned on Sunday that it will open the 2010 NCAA Tournament in Atlanta, where the Gamecocks will face Georgia Tech on Friday at 7 p.m. CT on ESPN at Mewborn Field.
Fresh off winning the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament on Saturday, the Gamecocks (30-17) learned their postseason fate during Sunday's NCAA Softball Selection Show. JSU will face the Yellow Jackets (49-9), the No. 8 national seed, in their Atlanta Regional, one that will also feature Auburn and Oregon. All of the games in the Atlanta Regional will be televised nationally.
Jacksonville State has won 19 of its last 23 games heading into the Gamecocks' third-straight NCAA Regional appearance. They swept through the OVC Tournament in Martin, Tenn., over the weekend to earn the league's automatic bid. JSU will face Georgia Tech, the Atlantic Coast Conference champs, for the first time since 2009, when the Yellow Jackets handed the Gamecocks a 3-0 loss in the Tech Buzz Classic.
JSU has been no stranger to NCAA success in the past two years. The Gamecocks advanced to the championship game of the 2008 Tuscaloosa Regional before winning the 2009 Knoxville Regional to advance to the Tuscaloosa Super Regional. The Yellow Jackets also advanced to last year's Super Regionals, meaning Friday's showdown will be one of two first-round matchups between Super Regional teams from a year ago. Washington will open with 2009 Norman, Okla., Regional champ North Dakota State.
The Gamecocks are also assured to be on national television for the third-straight season. Their regional title game appearance with Alabama in 2008 and their 2009 Tuscaloosa Super Regional games were each televised on ESPN2.
The four-team Atlanta Regional will be a double-elimination tournament that will send its winner to the Super Regionals, where it will face the winner of the Columbia, Mo., Regional.
Below are all of the matchups in the 2010 NCAA Tournament:
* Indicates host institution
Tuscaloosa Regional – May 21-23 at Tuscaloosa, Alabama
No. 1 seed Alabama* (48-9) vs. Alcorn St. (24-24)
Lipscomb (48-11) vs. UAB (36-20)
Stanford Regional – May 21-23 at Stanford, California
Stanford* (36-17) vs. Texas Tech (36-16)
UC Davis (26-27) vs. No. 16 seed Hawaii (44-13)
Columbia Regional – May 21-23 at Columbia, Missouri
No. 9 seed Missouri* (46-11) vs. Creighton (37-21)
DePaul (38-16) vs. Illinois (43-6)
Atlanta Regional – May 21-23 at Atlanta, Georgia
Oregon (33-19) vs. Auburn (30-24)
Jacksonville St. (30-17) vs. No. 8 seed Georgia Tech* (49-9)
Los Angeles Regional – May 21-23 at Los Angeles, California
No. 5 seed UCLA* (40-11) vs. St. Mary's (CA) (30-21)
Fresno St. (39-19) vs. San Diego St. (33-14)
Baton Rouge Regional – May 21-23 at Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Texas A&M (42-14) vs. La.-Lafayette (42-16)
McNeese St. (38-25) vs. No. 12 seed LSU* (44-14)
Amherst Regional – May 21-23 at Amherst, Massachusetts
No. 13 seed Arizona St. (41-15) vs. Boston U. (34-20)
Long Island (37-16) vs. Massachusetts* (42-8-1)
Gainesville Regional – May 21-23 at Gainesville, Florida
UCF (35-21) vs. FIU (36-19)
Bethune-Cookman (32-22) vs. No. 4 seed Florida* (43-8)
Seattle Regional – May 21-23 at Seattle, Washington
No. 3 seed Washington* (45-6) vs. North Dakota St. (33-23)
Nebraska (29-27) vs. North Carolina (40-18)
College Park Regional – May 21-23 at College Park, Maryland
Fordham (47-10) vs. Maryland* (33-22)
Syracuse (32-24) vs. No. 14 seed Oklahoma (43-10)
Columbus Regional – May 21-23 at Columbus, Ohio
No. 11 seed California (41-17) vs. Bucknell (28-18-1)
Kentucky (31-25) vs. Ohio St.* (37-12)
Athens Regional – May 21-23 at Athens, Georgia
Florida St. (43-16) vs. Radford (36-15)
Elon (38-19) vs. No. 6 Georgia* (43-11)
Austin Regional – May 20-22 at Austin, Texas
No. 7 seed Texas* (42-13) vs. Iona (28-24)
East Carolina (42-16) vs. BYU (43-11)
Tucson Regional – May 21-23 at Tucson, Arizona
Oklahoma St. (43-14) vs. Hofstra (43-10)
Cornell (37-13) vs. No. 10 seed Arizona* (43-11)
Knoxville Regional – May 21-23 at Knoxville, Tennessee
No. 15 seed Tennessee* (42-13) vs. Ball St. (43-14)
Virginia (33-21) vs. Louisville (39-17)
Ann Arbor Regional – May 21-23 at Ann Arbor, Michigan
Notre Dame (45-10) vs. Illinois State (32-18)
Wright St. (30-28-1) vs. No. 2 seed Michigan* (46-6)
CHAMPIONSHIP STRUCTURE:
The Division I championship provides for a field of 64 teams. The championship will be three weekends of competition. Four teams will participate at each of 16 regional sites in a double-elimination tournament. Sixteen teams were seeded and placed at one of the regional sites.
The regional winners will advance to super regional competition for a best-of-three series May 28-29 at eight campus sites.
The remaining eight teams will 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 June 3-9 at the ASA Hall of Fame Stadium in Oklahoma City.
