Softball, Sports

Beach softball grabs NCAA at-large bid

The 49ers’ softball team will head to Westwood for the NCAA regional and they will be joined by three familiar foes.

Long Beach State (34-19) nabbed an at-large bid after finishing third in the Big West Conference and will kick off the double-elimination tournament against No. 2 UCLA (41-9) Friday in the Los Angeles Regional.

Fresno State (36-18) and UNLV (31-19) will face off in the other regional game, as announced on ESPNU with the rest of 64-team field Sunday night. The winner of LBSU-UCLA will play the winner of Fresno-UNLV, while the losers face off in an elimination game on Saturday.

The NCAA regional rounds will be played May 15-17.

The 49ers upset the Bruins, 2-1, earlier this season when right-hander Brooke Turner outlasted UCLA’s Donna Kerr at Mayfair Park in Lakewood.

UNLV qualified for the NCAA Tournament as an at-large entry from the Mountain West Conference. The Rebels defeated LBSU, 4-2, earlier this season in San Jose and are led by former 49er head coach and LBSU Hall of Famer Pete Manarino.

Fresno State won the Western Athletic Conference’s automatic-bid to qualify for the regional. The 49ers blanked the Bulldogs in an 8-0, run-rule victory in the Mayfair Tournament.

Cal Poly and Cal State Fullerton will also represent the Big West in the NCAA regionals.

Cal Poly (39-10) won the conference’s automatic bid and will head to the Palo Alto Regional to face Nevada (39-17) in its first game. Portland State (29-24) and No. 8 Stanford are the other two teams in the regional.

CSUF (29-19), which qualified as an at-large after finishing second in the conference, heads to the Tempe Regional to face Louisiana State University (32-16-1) in its first game. San Diego State (33-18) and No. 10 Arizona State (40-16) round out the regional.

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