Dixie State softball hosts West 2 Regional beginning Thursday

Road to Oklahoma City begins at home for the Storm

2015 NCAA West 2 Regional Tournament Central

ST. GEORGE, Utah – For the third straight season, Dixie State softball has been selected to host one of two NCAA West Regionals and will face Saint Martin's during Thursday's (May 7) opening round. The Red Storm begins their defense of the West Region championship at 3:30 p.m. at Karl Brooks Field.

Dixie State, the Pacific West Conference champions with a record-setting 31-1 league record, enter the regional as the No. 2 seed, while Saint Martin's is the No. 7 seed after securing an at-large selection from the Great Northwest Athletic Conference. The other teams competing in the St. George sub-regional are No. 3 California Baptist from the PacWest and No. 6 Chico State from the California Collegiate Athletic Association. Those teams will kick off NCAA play at 1 p.m.

The Red Storm, at 44-7, rolled through its league schedule to take home its fourth PacWest championship in the last five years. Dixie State is undefeated this year at Karl Brooks Field (21-0) and 17-2 in true road games.

DSU will be making its seventh consecutive appearance in the NCAA West Regional while seeking its third trip to the Division II Championships, held this year in Oklahoma City, Okla. Last year, the Storm swept through regionals with three consecutive wins and then defeated Cal State Monterey Bay in two games to win the West Region for a second time in school history.

In Salem, Va., Dixie State alternated wins and losses. The journey to a national championship fell one day short, with a 2-1 loss to eventual Division II champion West Texas A&M.

In the other West sub-regional being played at CSUMB, CCAA rivals No. 4 Humboldt State and No. 5 Sonoma State square off in the first opening round game. The top-seeded Otters will host No. 8 Montana State-Billings, the GNAC Tournament champion. The winners of the two regional tournaments will play next weekend (May 15-16) in the Super Regionals at the site of the highest remaining seed. Whichever team wins the best 2-out-of-3 series advances to the Division II Championships at ASA Hall of Fame Stadium in Oklahoma City on May 21-25.

Click on the West 2 Tournament Central link at the top of this page for all tournament information, including links to the live stats/videos for every game.

Here is the schedule for this weekend's games at Karl Brooks Field:

Thursday, May 7
Game 1 – No. 6 Chico State vs. No. 3 California Baptist - 1 p.m.
Game 2 – No. 7 Saint Martin's vs. No. 2 Dixie State - 3:30 p.m.

Friday, May 8
Game 3 – Winner of Game 1 vs. Winner of Game 2 - 11 a.m.
Game 4 – Loser of Game 1 vs. Loser of Game 2 - 1:30 p.m.
Game 5 – Winner of Game 4 vs. Loser of Game 3 – 4 p.m.

Saturday, May 9
Game 6 – (Championship game) Winner of Game 3 vs. Winner of Game 5 – 12 noon
Game 7 (Championship game, if necessary) Same teams as above – 2:30 p.m.

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