Tigers, Razorbacks Set to Open NCAA Regional Friday Night in Arkansas

Friday, May 20

Fayetteville, Ark.

6:00 PM ET/5:00 PM CT

Princeton University

Arkansas

Princeton is set to begin its 11th NCAA tournament and first since 2017 on Friday at Arkansas.

Photo by: Sideline Photos, LLC

Tigers, Razorbacks Set to Open NCAA Regional Friday Night in Arkansas

May 17, 2022 | Softball

For the 11th time in program history and first since 2017, the Princeton softball team will head to the NCAA regionals, this year at Arkansas.

vs. #4 Arkansas, Friday, 6 p.m. ET/5 p.m. CT | SEC Network | Live Stats
vs. #23 Oregon or Wichita State, Saturday, 2 or 4:30 p.m. ET | ESPN+/SECN+ | Live Stats

Princeton Game Notes

It'll be Princeton's second trip to an SEC school for an NCAA regional, having played at LSU in 2006. Princeton will be looking for its first win over an SEC team since a regular-season win over Tennessee and 2003. The Tigers and Razorbacks have never met on the softball field.

The Princeton-Arkansas game will precede No. 23 Oregon facing Wichita State. The winners will meet on Saturday at 2 p.m. ET to start the regional's tripleheader that day, with the losing teams Friday meeting at 4:30 p.m ET Saturday. The day will close with a 7 p.m. ET game between the winner of the 4:30 game and the losing team from the 2 p.m. game, and the winner of that game will continue on Sunday at 2 p.m. If the team that survived the elimination part of the bracket beats the previously undefeated team, those two teams will turn right around and play again with a super regional bid on the line for next weekend.

Princeton (27-15-2) earned its NCAA bid by defeating Harvard in the Ivy League Playoff Series last weekend, becoming the first team to win the series after losing the first game of the best-of-three in what was the 14th edition of the Ivy League Championship Series/Playoff Series since it began in 2007. Princeton has the Ivy League Pitcher of the Year in Alexis Laudenslager, the Rookie of the Year in Sophia Marsalo, and the Coach of the Year in Lisa Van Ackeren.

Arkansas (44-9) earned its NCAA tournament bid by winning the SEC tournament after also winning the regular-season title and defending its top seed in the conference tournament. The Razorbacks enter the tournament having won five in a row since dropping the first game of its final regular-season SEC series to Texas A&M, winning the last two against the Aggies and sweeping through the SEC tournament in three games. Arkansas has the SEC Player of the Year in outfielder KB Sides, the Pitcher of the Year in Chenise Delce, and the Coach of the Year in Courtney Deifel.

Oregon (31-17) earned an at-large bid after finishing fifth in the Pac-12 regular season, which does not have a conference tournament but will beginning in 2023. The Ducks have won their last two games, taking the final two of their last regular-season series against Stanford. Terra McGowan led five Oregon players on the three All-Pac-12 teams, earning first-team honors as a catcher. Princeton and Oregon met once, a Ducks win during the 1996 regular season.

Wichita State (33-16) earned an at-large bid after finishing second in the American Athletic Conference during the regular season and making the conference's tournament semifinal before a loss to South Florida, which lost to UCF in the final. Outfielder Addison Barnard was the AAC Player of the Year. Princeton and Wichita State have met once, a Shockers win during the 1998 regular season.

Princeton will aim for its first NCAA tournament win since defeating Lehigh in a 2005 elimination game. The Tigers have earned three of the Ivy League's last five NCAA tournament bids and lead the league with the 11 NCAA tournament appearances and 20 Ivy titles.