May 9, 2003

Los Angeles, CA - The Lion softball team made program history this week winning the inaugural Pacific Coast Softball Conference Championship title, and hopefully, the seasons not over yet. Since the PCSC's automatic bid into the NCAA Division I Women's Softball Championship doesn't go into effect until 2005, LMU will look ahead to this Sunday and the NCAA Selection Show, where the Lions hope to receive an at-large bid.

The at-large teams, top-eight national seeds and first-round regional pairings will be announced Sunday, May 11, at 10 p.m. Eastern time live on ESPNEWS. The bracket, which will not be reseeded prior to the Women's College World Series, will be the first to include 64 teams, since the championship began in 1982. Last year's field included 48 teams.

The eight regional sites, with host institutions are as follows: Tuscaloosa, Alabama (University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa); Tucson, Arizona (University of Arizona); Fullerton, California (California State University, Fullerton); Gainesville, Florida (University of Florida); Fresno, California (California State University, Fresno); Ann Arbor, Michigan (University of Michigan); Lincoln, Nebraska (University of Nebraska, Lincoln); Austin, Texas (University of Texas at Austin).

Each regional field will feature eight teams, playing a double-elimination format. All regional games are scheduled to be conducted Thursday, May 15, through Sunday, May 18. This is the first time regional sites have been named in advance of the team selections in softball.

The Lions ended regular season play with a conference record of 14-5 and an overall record of 33-20.

The battle for the first PCSC title was a fight to the finish, as five of the six conference teams were in the running entering the final weekend of play. LMU was determined the conference champion after sweeping a tripleheader against Saint Mary's last Sunday and watching Santa Clara (30-26, 12-6 PCSC) drop a doubleheader to Saint Mary's (25-27, 7-12 PCSC) last Tuesday.