Texas Tech University Athletics
Red Raiders Face Cal St.-Fullerton Thursday
May 16, 2001 | Softball
May 16, 2001
TUCSON, Ariz. -- The Texas Tech softball teams will take on second-seeded and 10th-ranked Cal St.-Fullerton at Noon local time, 2 p.m. Central time, on Thursday in the first round of the Region I NCAA softball tournament in Tucson, Ariz. Tech received the No. 5 seed in the six-team bracket, with host and top-ranked Arizona gaining the top seed in the bracket.
The host Arizona Wildcats will entertain St. Peter's, champions of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference, in the first round on Thursday, while Hawaii and Southwest Texas State make up the rest of the bracket.
Cal St.-Fullerton ended the regular season with a 46-12 overall record, winning the Big West Conference with a 19-2 mark. The Titans swept Utah State in a three-game series to end their regular season on May 5-6.
The 19th-ranked Bobcats of Southwest Texas State received an automatic bid after winning the Southland Conference tournament two weeks ago, and carry a 52-10 mark into regional play. They will take on the 46-16 Hawaii Wahine in Thursday's first round, who received an at-large bid after finishing 16-4 in the WAC.
Tech's NCAA appearance is its second in three years, after the Red Raiders finished second at the Fresno, Calif., regional in 1999.
The Red Raiders have faced first-round opponent Cal St.-Fullerton twice in the six years of softball, with both teams winning once. The Titans won 10-0 on February 4 of last year, Tech's second game of last season, at the Diamond Classic in Albuquerque, N.M. The only other meeting between the two teams came at the San Diego State Tournament in February of 1999, with the Red Raiders posting a 5-2 win.
Tech also has a 1-1 record versus Arizona, splitting a pair of games during a tourney in Tucson in 1998. The Wildcats won the first game, 10-0, before Tech came back to take a 6-0 victory in the second contest.
Tech has faced Hawaii just once, and that too was last season. Then 20th-ranked Hawaii took a 6-0 decision during the Paradise Classic in Honolulu, the final game in Tech's 0-10 start to the 2000 season.
The Red Raiders and Southwest Texas State have played nine times since 1996, with the Red Raiders holding a 6-3 edge. The last time the two schools met was during the UT-Arlington Tournament in 1999, with the Bobcats taking a 4-2 victory.
Tech won three of four meeting in 1998, including sweeping a doubleheader at the University of Florida tourney in Gainesville, Fla. Tech also swept a twinbill in 1997 and split a pair of games in 1996.
