May 6, 2007
After earning back-to-back Great Lakes Valley Conference softball titles, the Southern Illinois University Edwardsville softball team heads to the NCAA Great Lakes Regional Tournament as the No. 1 seed.
SIUE, 41-8 overall and winners of the automatic bid for the GLVC, will face Shepherd, 31-17 overall and winners of the automatic bid from the West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. Game time is 11:30 a.m. Thursday for SIUE's first-round game.
This is the eighth consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance for the 13th-ranked Cougars and ninth in the last 10 seasons. SIUE is the defending Great Lakes Regional champions.
The 2007 Great Lakes Regional Tournament, set for Romeoville, Ill., early last week, will be an eight-team double-elimination tournament. There are 64 teams in the NCAA Tournament nationwide with the eight regional winners advancing to the national finals May 17-21 at Firestone Stadium at Akron, Ohio.
The tournament will be available on SIUE's Web Radio beginning Thursday at http://www.siue.edu/WEBRADIO.
Grand Valley State, 32-16, is the No. 4 seed and will face fifth-seeded Wayne State, 39-15, at 9 am.Gannon, the No. 3 seed with a 37-13 record, meets No. 6 seed Ferris State, 29-15, at 2 p.m. Lewis, the regional host and the No. 2 seed, will face seventh-seeded and first-time NCAA participant Missouri-Rolla, 28-16, at 4:30 p.m.
SIUE Coach Sandy Montgomery said she was pleased with her team's performance at the GLVC Tournament, the second title in a row and the fourth in school history.
"This team has gone throught a lot trying to find out who they are as a team. They found out at the right time," she said.
SIUE's pitching duo of senior Sabra McCune (DuQuoin) and sophomore Kaitlin Colosimo (Orland Park), both named to the All-GLVC first team, sported a 0.97 earned run average in the four wins in the league tournament. Colosimo was named the GLVC's Pitcher of the Year previous to the tournament and posted three wins during the tournament. She'll head into the NCAA Tournament with a 24-3 record.
SIUE's offense was filled with key hits and key RBIs throughout the tournament. Montgomery singled out several players, including Jodie Ohlau (Percy), Ashley Price (O'Fallon) and Mallory Ruggles (Nashville) for setting the tone offensively.
NCAA Division II Great Lakes Regional
May 10-14 at Romeoville, Ill.
Thursday, May 10
#4 Grand Valley St. (32-16) vs. #5 Wayne State (39-15), 9 am
#1 SIU Edwardsville (41-8) vs. #8 Shepherd (31-17), 11:30 am
#3 Gannon (37-13) vs. #6 Ferris State (29-15), 2 pm
#2 Lewis (34-12) vs. #7 Missouri-Rolla (28-16), 4:30 pm
Friday, May 11
Loser of Game 1 vs. Loser of Game 2, 9 am
Loser of Game 3 vs. Loser of Game 4, 11:30 am
Winner of Game 1 vs. Winner of Game 2, 2 pm
Winner of Game 3 vs. Winner of Game 4, 4:30 pm
Saturday, May 12
Winner of Game 6 vs. Loser of Game 7 , 9 am
Winner of Game 5 vs. Loser of Game 8 , 11:30 am
Winner of Game 7 vs. Winner of Game 8, 2 pm
Winner of Game 9 vs. Winner of Game 10 , 4:30 pm
Sunday, May 13
Winner of Game 12 vs. Loser of Game 11, Noon
Winner of Game 11 vs. Winner of Game 13, 2:30 pm
Monday, May 14
Winner of Game 14 vs. Loser of Game 14, if necessary, Noon
-siue cougars-
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