Courtesy: Boston U. Athletic Communications
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- For the third time in four years, the Boston University softball team is headed to the NCAA Tournament as the Terriers will travel to Berkeley, Calif., to face the Arkansas Razorbacks. The Terriers are the No. 3 seed in the Berkeley Regional and will open play against Arkansas in the double-elimination NCAA Regional starting on Friday, May 18. It is the first time in program history that BU will be playing as a No. 3 seed in an NCAA Regional.
California, the tournament's overall No. 1 seed and regional host, will play Iona in the other opening match-up in the Berkeley Regional.
Boston U. (40-14) captured its 13th America East title on Sunday afternoon with a 5-0 shutout of Albany to receive the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. The conference's regular season champions have won 40 games for just the second time in school history.
Boston U. heads into the postseason as winners of 16 of its last 17 games and is currently riding a six-game winning streak. The top-seeded Terriers went 3-0 in the America East tournament, defeating No. 4 Maine, 3-2, No. 2 Stony Brook, 7-3, and No. 3 Albany, 5-0 to win the conference crown.
Sophomore Holli Floetker led the Terriers in the conference tournament with a pair of victories and 1.29 ERA with just two runs in 14.0 innings of work en route to being named the Most Outstanding Player of the tournament. She was joined by classmates Jayme Mask, Brittany Clendenny and Amy Ekart on the All-Tournament team. Mask led Boston U. with six hits and three runs scored while Clendenny posted four hits and a pair of RBIs. Ekart drove in three runs, including a two-run homer.
Arkansas finished the regular season with a record of 27-26 and received an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament. The Razorbacks are led be SEC Freshman of the Year Devon Wallace who batted .345 on the season with 48 hits, 14 home runs and 36 RBIs. Freshman Kimmy Beasley earned Freshman All -SEC honors after recording a 3.32 ERA with 97 strikeouts in 124.1 innings of work.
This marks Arkansas' fifth NCAA Tournament , with its most recent appearance in 2009. The Razorbacks are 3-8 in NCAA Tournament play.
The Terriers' trip to Berkeley will be the fourth NCAA Tournament appearance for America East Co-Coach of the Year Shawn Rychcik, as he led BU to the NCAA Regionals in 2009 and 2010 and was an assistant coach in 2003. Overall, this marks the Terriers' sixth NCAA Tournament appearance.
The Terriers are one of 64 teams who will be competing at 16 regional sites in the first round double-elimination regionals. The Regional winners will advance to the Super Regionals for a best-of-three series at eight campus sites. The eight teams that win the Super Regionals will advance to the Women's College World Series, an eight-team, double-elimination tournament in Oklahoma City. The championship final will be a best-of-three series.