The Tigers will take on Louisville at 4 p.m. CTThe Tigers will take on Louisville at 4 p.m. CT
Softball

Missouri Softball Opens Regional Play against Louisville

May 20, 2004

Coming off of a second place finish at the Big 12 Conference Softball Championships, the 29-24 Tigers will par with Louisville (40-17) in game three of Region two, set for Thursday, May 20 at 4 p.m. (CT) in Los Angeles.

A total of 64 teams were selected to compete in one of eight regional sites scattered across the nation. Region two consists of host school and No. 1 seed UCLA, No. 2 seed Alabama, No. 3 seed Long Beach State, No. 4 seed Louisville, No. 5 seed Missouri, No. 6 seed Cornell, No. 7 seed Central Michigan and No. 8 seed Mississippi Valley. Of the seven other teams in Region two, Missouri has competed against all of them except for Cornell and Mississippi Valley at some point during the program's 30-year history.

Entering the tournament, Louisville holds a 3-0 lead in the all-time series. The two schools first met in Missouri's season opener Feb. 11, 2000, at the Metrodome Invitational. The Cardinals took the first win 8-2. More recently, Louisville was one of four teams to attend the Missouri Classic in 2002, defeating Missouri 3-2 in games on March 8 and March 10.

Only Missouri's ninth NCAA Regional bid (11th including AIAW), 2004 marks the second consecutive year the Tigers have been selected to compete in post-season play. In last season's outing, the Tigers were 0-2, suffering losses to Wright State and Notre Dame. Missouri first competed at the NCAA Regional Championships in 1982, making seven more appearances in 1983, 1991, 1994, 1997, 1998, 1999 and 2003.

The Tigers have claimed four NCAA Regional Championship titles, the first coming in 1983 and the most recent in 1997.

Missouri last traveled to UCLA for the 1999 Regional Championships. 3-2 in the series, MU's elimination came at the hands of UCLA 12-5.

Twenty-seven conference received automatic qualification into the NCAA Regional Championships. The Big 12 automatic qualifier was Nebraska. Five schools from the Big 12 Conference will attempt to advance to the Women's College World series; Baylor, Missouri Nebraska, Oklahoma and Texas A&M. The winner of each region will advance to the 2004 NCAA Division I Women's College World Series, May 27-31 on Oklahoma City, Okla.