Vikings Draw Notre Dame In NCAA First Round

Posted: May 10, 2009

May 10, 2009

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Cleveland State will play Notre Dame in an opening round game of the Michigan Regional of the 2009 NCAA Division I Softball Championship on Friday (May 15) at 4:30 p.m. in Ann Arbor, Mich. Host Michigan will face Miami (OH) in the other tourney first round game at 7:00 p.m. that day with tourney play running through Sunday (May 17). The NCAA announced the pairings for the 64-team tournament live on ESPNU on Sunday evening.

The Viking enter the tourney having win 22 of their last 26 games to improve to 35-16 on the year, the fourth-highest single season win total in CSU history and one of a school-record four consecutive 30-win campaigns. Notre Dame, the champions of the Big East Conference, are 41-15 on the year. Michigan (41-10) is the No. 5 seed in the tournament while Miami (OH) (32-22) won the Mid-American Conference title over the weekend.

"This has been a very memorable day," CSU head coach Angie Nicholson said. "To win the championship this morning the way we did and then come home tonight and find out that we will be playing Notre Dame is very special to us. By playing in Michigan, it will give our parents and fans the opportunity to watch us play and if you saw the support that they provided us this weekend at the Horizon League Championships, you would know how valuable that is to us.

"One of our team goals this season was to win the Horizon League title and earn an NCAA bid. Now that we have achieved that, it is time to raise our sights a lot higher and go to Ann Arbor this week ready to play and advance.

The first weekend of play in the NCAA Championship consists of 16 four-team regionals around the country. The winner of the Michigan Regional will advance to play the winner of the Baylor Regional in a best of three game series on May 22-23. Louisiana-Lafayette (43-11) will face host Baylor (37-20) in one game with Texas State (39-16) and Northwestern (31-17) meeting in the other game.

The Notre Dame game will mark the second NCAA Championship appearance in school history and the first since the 1997 season. The Vikings earned the berth by defeating UIC, 4-2, in the championship game of the Horizon League Championship on Sunday morning (May 10) in Pendleton, Indiana.

CSU has faced the Fighting Irish just twice before in softball with Notre Dame sweeping a doubleheader, 2-0 and 10-4 during the 1995 season.