Titans Make NCAA Softball Tournament

Cal State Fullerton was chosen for the 32-team NCAA softball tournament field Sunday, but Coach Judi Garman was disappointed Fullerton wasn’t one of the eight regional tournament sites picked.

“I’m disappointed for our players and our fans because they hoped we’d be able to have one at home,” Garman said.

Instead, the Titans (42-15) will be going back to Cal State Northridge for the second consecutive year, and will be seeded second behind Northridge (41-15). Illinois State (45-12) and Missouri (47-17) also were assigned there. The Titans will open play at 12:30 p.m. Friday against Illinois State and Northridge will meet Missouri at 3 p.m. The tournament will continue through Sunday.

Garman said she was somewhat surprised that Northridge was seeded ahead of Fullerton. “We beat them in two of the three games we played this year, and we were ranked ahead of them in the most recent coaches’ poll. But I can’t say at this point what the NCAA rankings were based on.” Fullerton is ranked fourth in the nation and Northridge seventh in the coaches’ poll.

The NCAA awarded the other tournaments to Princeton, Arizona, Michigan, Southwest Louisiana, Cal State Sacramento, South Carolina and Oklahoma State. Top-ranked UCLA was assigned to the South Carolina regional.

“Other than being disappointed about not hosting, we’re fine with the tournament we’ll be in,” Garman said. “I like the fact that we’ll have two teams from outside our area. I expected Northridge and us to be in the same regional.”

Last year’s regional came down to a battle between the two schools. Fullerton lost to Northridge in the second round, 9-0, but the Titans came back to win, 2-0, in the second meeting. Northridge won the decisive game, 4-0, to reach the NCAA tournament championships in Oklahoma City.