Titans Seeded Second in Softball Regional

The Cal State Fullerton softball team was seeded second in the Tucson, Ariz., NCAA regional behind host Arizona, the nation’s top-ranked team, when pairings were announced Sunday.

Fullerton (46-12), which won its second consecutive Big West Conference championship, will play Texas Tech (35-22) Thursday in the first round of the double-elimination tournament. Top-seeded Arizona (57-4) will meet No. 6-seeded St. Peter’s, N.J., (39-18) and third-seeded Hawaii (45-15) will play No. 4-seeded Southwest Texas State (49-10) in other first-round games.

“I’m very excited about the draw,” Titan Coach Michelle Gromacki said. “I’m disappointed that we don’t have more teams on the West Coast hosting regionals, but that doesn’t mean I’m not excited about the draw.”

UCLA and Stanford also were selected to host regionals. Fullerton made a bid to host one of the eight tournaments.

Pairings at UCLA send the top-seeded Bruins against Coastal Carolina, second-seeded Fresno State against Wisconsin and third-seeded Cal State Northridge against San Diego State.

ACADEMICS

Fresno State’s Lindsay Fossatti was named to the Academic All-District VIII women’s softball team. Fossatti, a graduate of Foothill High, is majoring in kinesiology and has a 3.93 grade-point average.

Cal State Fullerton pitcher Jon Smith, who has a 4.0 GPA in accounting, was named to the Academic All-District VIII baseball team for the third consecutive year.

HONORS

Seven UC Irvine athletes have been selected as Arthur Ashe Jr. Sports Scholars by Black Issues in Higher Education.

Those honored are Cindy Oparah, women’s basketball; Nickole Kabe, women’s tennis; Anita Sampson, women’s track and field; Brooke Witt, women’s volleyball; Aaron Colocion, men’s soccer; Chris Ma, men’s tennis, and Santosh Swamidass, men’s track and field.

To be considered, athletes must have a grade-point average of 3.2 or higher and have demonstrated service to the campus and community.

SOFTBALL

Marlon Buttram of Troy and Erin Gallagher of Tustin have been named coaches for the North-South All-Star game.

The game, scheduled for June 5 at Cal State Fullerton, is for the top seniors in Orange County. The game is set for 6:30 p.m.