NCAA Tournament (Seattle Region/May 19-21)
McNeese (44-14) vs. Minnesota (37-17)
Friday, May 19 (5:30 p.m./CT)
Husky Stadium
ESPN+
 
LAKE CHARLES—McNeese softball, the Southland Conference regular season and tournament champions will make its ninth NCAA appearance, fifth overall and third straight under seventh year head coach James Landreneau this Friday, May 19 when the Cowgirls take on Minnesota at the Seattle Regional.  First pitch is set for 5:30 p.m. (CT) at Husky Stadium.  The game will be streamed on ESPN+.
 
McNeese (44-14), the tournament's No. 3 seed will take on the Minnesota (37-17), the tournament's No. 2 seed and one of three Big Ten teams to earn an at-large bid.  Minnesota placed third in the Big Ten and is making its 10^th NCAA appearance. This will be the second all-time meeting between the teams who first met at the Texas A&M Aggie Invitational in 1994 with the Golden Gophers picking up a 6-0 win.
 
The Cowgirls, who have won 18 of their last 20 games will enter the tournament on a 10-game winning streak, its longest of the season and a school record 44 wins.
 
McNeese enters the tournament with a team .290 average with four players hitting over .300.  Alayis Seneca leading the way with a .373 average.  Reese Reyna has a .331 average, Chloe Gomez (.310) and Corine Poncho (.301).
 
The pitching staff consisting of senior Whitney Tate (16-4), juniors Ashley Vallejo (18-8) and Shaelyn Sanders (7-0) and freshmen Lindsay Davis (3-2) and Ryann Schexnayder (0-0) have a combined ERA of 1.84.
 
Minnesota enters the weekend with a .286 team average with catcher Taylor Krapf leading the way with a .354 average and a team high 14 home runs.  Krapf is one of four Golden Gophers who has at least 10 homeruns this season.  As a team, Minnesota has hit 69 homeruns this season.
 
Big Ten Pitcher of the Year Autumn Pease has thrown the majority of innings for the Golden Gophers this season. Pease is 26-7 with a 1.45 ERA, 256 strikeouts in 203.1 innings.
 
The Seattle Regional is paired with the Baton Rouge Regional hosted by LSU. The winner of Seattle/LSU Region will face off in the Super Regional round May 25-28 in a best-of-three series for a spot in the 2023 Women's College World Series in Oklahoma City.
 
Seattle Region Schedule (All Times CST)
Friday, May 19
Game 1- 5:30 p.m.           No. 3 seed McNeese vs. No. 2 Seed Minnesota
Game 2- 8 p.m.               No. 4 seed Northern Colorado vs. No. 1 seed Washington
 
Saturday, May 20
Game 3- 4 p.m.               Winner Game 1 vs. Winner Game 2
Game 4- 6:30 p.m.           Loser Game 1 vs. Loser Game 2
Game 5- 9 p.m.               Loser Game 4 vs. Loser Game 3
 
Sunday, May 21
Game 6- 3 p.m.               Winner Game 3 vs. Winner Game 5
Game 7- 5:30 p.m.           Winner Game 6 vs. Loser Game 6 (if necessary)