Bison Play 13th-Seed Arizona at NCAA Tucson Softball Regional

FARGO, N.D.--Four-time Summit League tournament champion North Dakota State University will open NCAA Division I Softball tournament play against 13th-seed and eight-time national champion University of Arizona at 7 p.m. (Central) Friday, May 18, in Tucson, Ariz.

The NCAA Tucson Regional will be nationally-televised on ESPNU/ESPN3.

Notre Dame (38-14) plays Hawai'i (44-7) at 4:30 p.m. in Friday's first game.

North Dakota State (37-20) is 3-6 in NCAA Division I tournament play. NDSU is making its 11th appearance overall with a 27-21 record.

The Bison are 0-4 against Arizona and 1-1 against Notre Dame. It would be the first meeting between NDSU and Hawai'i.

It's the fourth straight season North Dakota State travels to a Pac-12 school in NCAA tournament play -- Arizona State (2009 Super Regional), Washington (2010 Seattle Regional) and Arizona State (2011 Tempe Regional).

North Dakota State is 2-7 against teams that have advanced to the NCAA tournament this season -- Alabama (0-2), Arizona State (0-1), Baylor (0-1), Coastal Carolina (1-1), Florida State (0-1), Long Beach State (1-0) and Texas A&M (0-1).

2012 NCAA DIVISION I SOFTBALL CHAMPIONSHIP

LEFT SIDE OF THE BRACKET                   

Berkeley Regional – May 18-20 at Berkeley, California

No. 1 seed California* (50-4) vs. Iona (35-24)

Boston U. (40-14) vs. Arkansas (27-26)       

Seattle Regional – May 18-20 at Seattle, Washington

Texas Tech (40-15) vs. Maryland (34-20)

Harvard (33-13) vs. No. 16 seed Washington* (36-17)

Columbia Regional – May 18-20 at Columbia, Missouri

No. 9 seed Missouri* (43-12) vs. Illinois St. (35-21)

 Massachusetts (38-11) vs. DePaul (35-20)

College Station Regional – May 18-20 at College Station, Texas

LSU (34-22) vs. Texas St. (38-15)

Bethune-Cookman (30-29) vs. No. 8 seed Texas A&M* (39-16)

Gainesville Regional – May 18-20 at Gainesville, Florida

No. 5 seed Florida* (46-11) vs. Fla. Gulf Coast (37-22)

UCF (39-17) vs. South Fla. (45-11)       

Los Angeles Regional – May 18-20 at Los Angeles, California

Florida St. (46-14) vs. San Diego St. (30-22)

Hofstra (38-13) vs. No. 12 seed UCLA* (36-18)

Tucson Regional – May 18-20 at Tucson, Arizona

No. 13 seed Arizona* (35-17) vs. North Dakota St. (37-20)

Notre Dame (38-14) vs. Hawaii (44-7)                                                                       

Norman Regional – May 18-20 at Norman, Oklahoma

Oregon St. (34-21) vs. Tulsa (41-12)

Lehigh (40-17) vs. No 4 seed Oklahoma* (45-8)

RIGHT SIDE OF THE BRACKET

Tempe Regional – May18-20 at Tempe, Arizona

No. 3 seed Arizona St.* (46-7) vs. LIU Brooklyn (25-33)

Long Beach St. (28-23) vs. Syracuse (40-14)                                                                                     

Lafayette Regional – May 18-20 at Lafayette, Louisiana

Stanford (38-17) vs. Baylor (33-20)

Mississippi Val. (34-17) vs. No. 14 seed La.-Lafayette* (49-4)

Eugene Regional – May 17-19 at Eugene, Oregon

No. 11 seed Oregon* (39-15) vs. Portland St. (27-23)

Mississippi St. (33-22) vs. BYU (43-13)

Austin Regional – May 18-20 at Austin, Texas

Auburn (33-21) vs. Houston (34-22)

Northwestern (27-27) vs. No. 6 seed Texas* (42-10)              

Knoxville Regional – May 18-20 at Knoxville, Tennessee

No. 7 seed Tennessee* (46-10) vs. Miami (OH) (40-18)

UAB (37-20) vs. Virginia Tech (40-19)                                                                          

Athens Regional – May 18-20 at Athens, Georgia

North Carolina (41-13) vs. Ga. Southern (42-18)

Coastal Caro. (43-18) vs. No. 10 seed Georgia* (41-15)

Louisville Regional – May 18-20 at Louisville, Kentucky

No. 15 seed Louisville* (53-3) vs. Valparaiso (42-17)

Kentucky (29-28) vs. Michigan (39-15)                                                                     

Tuscaloosa Regional – May 18-20 at Tuscaloosa, Alabama

Georgia Tech (36-21) vs. South Ala. (39-15)

UT Martin (39-20) vs. No. 2 seed Alabama* (50-7)

* Indicates host institution