UK Softball makes NCAA Tournament, will host Regional

Congrats to the UK Softball team, who not only received an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament on Sunday, but given the honor of hosting one of the 16 regionals. The team was seeded 12th in the nation, and begins their Tournament run on Friday at 7:30 p.m. against Marshall. The other two teams in the Lexington Regional, Notre Dame and Virginia Tech, will face off beforehand at 5 p.m. at John Cropp Stadium. All games can be seen on ESPN3.com. The regional is a double-elimination format, with the winner advancing to a Super Regional against the winner of the Tempe Regional, which includes No. 5 seed Arizona State, San Jose State, San Diego State and Georgia. The Super Regional, slated for May 23-26, is a best two-of-three format with the winner advancing to the eight-team Women's College World Series, scheduled for May 30-June 5 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. This is the fifth consecutive season the team has made the Tournament, each appearance happening under head coach Rachel Lawson. Lawson said the team is thrilled they'll have a chance to play the first game in front of a home crowd: “We are very excited about hosting the NCAA Regional this weekend at John Cropp Stadium. After the crowds we had this week for the SEC Tournament, I know the Big Blue Nation is going to come out in droves to provide us with a home field advantage. Notre Dame, Virginia Tech and Marshall are three very good teams that present a lot of challenges. We are going to work hard this week in practice to get ready to go Friday night.” Watch the girls react to their seeding during the NCAA Selection Show above.