Cal Sports Report

NCAA Softball: Cal Lands in Baton Rouge Regional, Opens vs. Southern Illinois

Bears likely to cross paths with regional host LSU, the No. 9 overall seed in the tournament.

Jeff Faraudo

Cal softball players celebrate
Cal softball players celebrate / Photo courtesy of Cal Athletics
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The Cal softball team is headed to the NCAA tournament for the second year in a row.

The Golden Bears (36-17) were awarded an at-large bid into the Baton Rouge regional and will open play in the double-elimination event Friday against Southern Illinois (41-9) on ESPN+ at 12:30 p.m. PDT.

The Salukis clinched an automatic by with a 4-2 win over Illinois State, thanks to a walk-off grand slam by Elizabeth Warwick in the championship game of the Missouri Valley Conference. 

Cal won twice in three NCAA games a year ago before being sent home by eventual national champion Oklahoma.

The Golden Bears, ousted in the opening round of the Pac-12 tournament by rival Stanford on Thursday, are making their 35th trip to the NCAAs.

Cal is one of the nation's top power-hitting teams, leading the Pac-12 in home runs (77), doubles (83) and extra-base hits (164).

Baton Rouge host LSU (40-15) was given the No. 9 overall seed and will open play Friday against Jackson State (32-17), champs of the SWAC. LSU, just 12-12 in the fierce Southeastern Conference, is making its 18th consecutive NCAA appearance, its 25th overall.

LSU is No. 3 in the latest NCAA RPI rankings while Cal is No 22. Southern Illinois is No. 51 and Jackson State checks in at No. 227.

The 64-team NCAA field — including 32 at-large bids — was revealed Sunday, with Big 12 champion Texas (47-7) securing the No. 1 overall seed for the first time. Oklahoma (49-6) is No. 2.

The SEC landed 13 tournament berths.

Two other Bay Area schools will face each other in a Friday opener. Stanford (43-13) was given a No. 8 seed and will host Saint Mary’s (30-12).

Pac-12 regular-season and tournament champion UCLA (37-10) was named a No. 6 seed and a total of seven teams were select4ed from the Pac-12 in its final season. The conference owns 24 NCAA softball titles.

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Jeff Faraudo

JEFF FARAUDO

Jeff Faraudo was a sports writer for Bay Area daily newspapers since he was 17 years old, and was the Oakland Tribune's Cal beat writer for 24 years. He covered eight Final Fours, four NBA Finals and four Summer Olympics.