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Titans
Head to Fresno for NCAA Softball Regionals May 12, 2002 – Fullerton, Calif. The No. 9-ranked Cal State Fullerton softball team earned one of eight No. 1 seeds for the 2002 NCAA Softball Championships, but will have to travel to Fresno, Calif., to take on five other schools in regional play according to the brackets announced on Sunday evening. The Titans, who clinched their third consecutive Big West Conference championship on Saturday (May 11) with a sweep of Cal Poly in the final series of the regular season, will open regional play with No. 6-seeded Evansville on Thursday at 12 p.m. at Bulldog Diamond. The No. 2 seed, Stanford, will take on Big West Conference runner-up and No. 5 seed Pacific, while No. 4 seed and host Fresno State, will face No. 3-seeded California. Of the regional participants, four of the teams are currently ranked in the top 15 in the nation with another ranked at No. 17 according to the final regular season NFCA Coaches Poll released on May 8. California is the highest-ranked team at No. 5, followed by No. 8 Stanford, No. 9 Cal State Fullerton, No. 14 Fresno State and No. 17 Pacific. This is the 21st regional appearance in the 23-year history of Cal State Fullerton softball as the Titans have advanced to the postseason in each of the last four years. Fullerton is 34-27 overall in regional play and 56-41 overall in postseason play dating back to 1980. Cal State Fullerton has faced four of its five regional opponents this season, posting a 2-0 record against Fresno State, a 1-0 record against California, a 1-2 record against Pacific and an 0-3 record against Stanford. This will be the first-ever meeting between the Titans and Evansville. In the postseason, Cal State Fullerton is 1-1 all-time against Fresno State, defeating the Bulldogs, 2-1, in 1987 at the College World Series and falling, 4-3, at the 2000 regionals, also hosted by Fresno State. The Titans and Golden Bears also have postseason history as Cal State Fullerton leads that series in the "second season," 4-3. The Titans earned wins in 1981 by the scores of 3-2 and 3-1 in regionals and 1-0 at the AIAW Nationals as well as a 3-0 win in the national championship year of 1986. Cal came out on top in a pair of wins in 1980 (1-0 and 4-0) and also by the score of 3-2 at the 2000 regionals in Fresno. Overall, Cal State Fullerton is 21-11 against California, 29-35 against Fresno State, 45-24 against Pacific and 3-9 against Stanford. The Titans finished the 2002 regular season with a 50-11 overall record and a 22-2 mark in the Big West. Fullerton won 32 consecutive games at one point in the season and has won 41 of its last 43 contests, finishing the year with a nine-game winning streak. The complete regional brackets are shown below. Teams denoted by an asterisk are the host schools. Region No. 1 - May 16-19 at Columbia, South Carolina No. 1 seed UCLA (50-6) No. 2 seed Georgia (57-15) No. 3 seed *South Carolina (43-18) No. 4 seed Eastern Kentucky (36-12) No. 5 seed UMBC (46-19) No. 6 seed Liberty (28-31) Region No. 2 - May 16-19 at Minneapolis, Minnesota No. 1 seed Arizona (48-10) No. 2 seed DePaul (46-9) No. 3 seed *Minnesota (35-19) No. 4 seed Princeton (34-16) No. 5 seed Penn State (32-24) No. 6 seed Boston U. (28-21) Region No. 3 - May 16-19 at Lafayette, Louisiana No. 1 seed LSU (53-9) No. 2 seed Arizona St. (40-18) No. 3 seed *Louisiana-Lafayette (49-11) No. 4 seed Massachusetts (52-11) No. 5 seed Mississippi State (35-29) No. 6 seed Northwestern State (45-23) Region No. 4 - May 16-19 at Fresno, California No. 1 seed CAL STATE FULLERTON (50-11) No. 2 seed Stanford (43-18) No. 3 seed California (48-19) No. 4 seed *Fresno St. (49-18) No. 5 seed Pacific (Cal.) (42-15) No. 6 seed Evansville (34-25) Region No. 5 - May 16-19 at Norman, Oklahoma No. 1 seed Texas (46-11) No. 2 seed *Oklahoma (44-14) No. 3 seed Texas A&M (38-16) No. 4 seed Arkansas (32-26) No. 5 seed Utah (30-34) No. 6 seed Army (30-17-1) Region No. 6 - May 16-19 at Ann Arbor, Michigan No. 1 seed Washington (43-16) No. 2 seed *Michigan (46-9) No. 3 seed Ohio State (53-12) No. 4 seed Central Michigan (38-14) No. 5 seed Canisius (33-14) No. 6 seed Oakland (24-35-1) Region No. 7 - May 16-19 at Iowa City, Iowa No. 1 seed Nebraska (45-12) No. 2 seed Oregon State (38-23) No. 3 seed Notre Dame (41-15) No. 4 seed *Iowa (35-18) No. 5 seed Wisconsin (31-20) No. 6 seed Illinois-Chicago (42-20) Region No. 8 - May 16-19 at Tallahassee, Florida No. 1 seed Florida Atlantic (59-11) No. 2 seed Alabama (46-19) No. 3 seed *Florida State (49-17) No. 4 seed Auburn (38-25) No. 5 seed Georgia Tech (47-16) No. 6 seed Chattanooga (40-13) ####
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