Huskers Headed to Baton Rouge for NCAA Regional

A strong finish has earned the Nebraska softball team an at-large berth into the NCAA Tournament. The Huskers were one of 32 teams to earn an at-large bid when the 64-team field was announced live on ESPNU Sunday night.

Nebraska is headed to Baton Rouge, La., for one of the nation’s toughest regionals, which features three teams who have been ranked in the top 20 this season. The Huskers will face No. 24 Arizona State on Friday. LSU, the No. 5 national seed who spent several weeks as the nation’s top-ranked team, hosts the regional at Tiger Park. The eighth-ranked Tigers will face Texas Southern in the first round. Outside of Texas Southern, each of the other three teams in the Baton Rouge Regional have made it to the Women’s College World Series in the past three seasons.

LSU, Arizona State and Nebraska all earned at-large bids to the NCAA Tournament, while Texas Southern earned an automatic bid after winning the Southwestern Athletic Conference Tournament. LSU (44-11) finished fourth in the SEC Conference, which features seven of the top 14 teams in the NFCA coaches’ poll. The Tigers have also defeated Nebraska this season. Arizona State ended the regular season with a 34-20 record, and the Sun Devils finished fourth in the Pac-12 Conference, which has six teams ranked in the top 25. Texas Southern (25-21) won its second straight SWAC Tournament to qualify for its second consecutive NCAA Tournament.

An NCAA Tournament berth perhaps seemed unlikely just one month ago, when Nebraska’s record stood at 20-18 and the Huskers came in at No. 62 in the first NCAA RPI rankings. Nebraska climbed more than 20 spots in the RPI rankings by winning won 14 of its last 17 games, including a run to the championship game of the Big Ten Tournament, where Nebraska fell to No. 3 national seed Michigan. The Huskers will bring a 34-21 record into the NCAA Tournament after finishing in third place in the Big Ten Conference.

Head Coach Rhonda Revelle is taking her alma mater to the NCAA Tournament for the 19th time in the past 21 seasons. Revelle, who owns the fifth-most NCAA Tournament appearances of any active Division I coach, is looking forward to the Huskers’ second straight trip to Columbia.

“I’m very proud of this team. This group continued to work together every day to get better, and they truly earned a spot in the NCAA Tournament with the way they performed in the last month of the season,” Revelle said. “We’ve had some success in the postseason the last few years and our goal is to continue to represent Nebraska to the best of our ability.

“I truly believe we are playing our best softball right now, but we know this team can perform at an even higher level. We are heading to a regional with outstanding programs, and we expect that the strong competition we will face this weekend will bring out the best in this team.”

The Huskers are making their 23rd all-time NCAA Tournament appearance, which ranks 10th in NCAA history. Nebraska has won back-to-back NCAA Regional titles, one of 11 teams nationally who have advanced to NCAA Super Regional play each of the last two seasons. Overall, the Huskers have won eight regional titles, one super regional crown and advanced to the Women’s College World Series seven times.

NCAA Baton Rouge Regional Schedule

Friday, May 15

Nebraska vs. Arizona State, 3:30 p.m. (Game 1)

Texas Southern at LSU, 6 p.m. (Game 2)

Saturday, May 16

Game 1 Winner vs. Game 2 Winner, TBA (Game 3)

Game 1 Loser vs. Game 2 Loser, TBA (Game 4)

Game 4 Winner vs. Game 3 Loser, TBA (Game 5)

Sunday, May 17

Game 3 Winner vs. Game 5 Winner, TBA (Game 6)

Game 6 Winner vs. Game 6 Loser (if first loss), TBA