March 3, 2011 - 5:41pm
No. 2 Michigan softball to host NCAA Regional in Ann Arbor
BY ALEX HERMANN
As expected, the No. 2 Michigan softball team will host the opening round of the NCAA championship tournament next weekend.
The Wolverines will play their first game of the postseason against Wright State on Saturday as part of the double-elimination tournament. Notre Dame and Illinois State are the other two teams in the Ann Arbor Regional.
This season marks the ninth straight year Michigan has hosted the NCAA Regionals.
“Our fans are just unbelievable and so supportive,” sophomore second baseman Amanda Chidester said after the team’s win over Iowa on Saturday, prior to the selection committee’s determination of seeding and host sites. “It’s our home field and we go out there and play and have fun. It’s a great environment. … I think it will help a lot.”
Alumni Field has been kind to the Wolverines all year, as they’ve won every game there the last two years and haven’t lost in front of the home crowd since the NCAA Super Regionals in 2008, when Michigan’s current seniors were sophomores.
With their 46-6 record, the Wolverines were chosen as the tournament’s second seed overall, behind only top-seeded Alabama. Michigan took on the Crimson Tide three times this season, beating them twice in Tuscaloosa but losing once on a neutral field.
