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WICHITA, Kan. - Wichita State has received its second-ever at-large bid for the 2018 NCAA Softball Tournament and will travel to the Fayetteville Regional to face Oklahoma State Friday, May 18 at 1:30 p.m. CT on ESPNU.
The Shockers [ranked No. 32 in the latest NCAA RPI Rankings and receiving votes in the ESPN.com/USA Softball Top-25 Poll] are making their fourth NCAA Regional appearance in school history (1986, 2005, 2016, 2018). They will join the No. 13 seed Arkansas (host) and DePaul in a double-elimination event held over four days. The tournament winner earns the right to advance to the NCAA Super Regional the following weekend.
"I'm excited for our kids, that's what it's all about and they worked hard this season," said head coach
Kristi Bredbenner. "It shows the growth in this program in the last couple of years [to get the second at-large bid in Shocker history]."
The at-large bid was helped by a top-35 RPI ranking and the 25th strongest full season and ninth strongest non-conference schedule in the nation. It is the second NCAA appearance under Bredbenner (2016, 2018). The Shockers enter tournament play with a 30-21 record after their first season in The American where they finished tied for third with a 12-9 mark.
"We're going to have to prepare, it's going to be a dogfight," said Bredbenner. "It's awesome that The American got four teams in. When you look back and 50 percent of the teams in your conference got into postseason, it tells you how strong our conference really is."
Wichita State swept the season series with Oklahoma State (38-20) this season, beating the Cowgirls 9-6 in Wichita and 5-3 in Stillwater. However, Oklahoma State owns a 79-10 mark all-time between the two programs. The Shockers are 3-5 all-time vs. Arkansas and 1-0 vs. DePaul.
Wichita State is one of four teams from the American Athletic Conference selected for the NCAA Regional Round, joining Tulsa, USF and Houston.
