2016 NCAA Championship Bracket (PDF) | Lexington Regional Tournament Central | Reaction Video
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – For the fifth time in program history and the first since 2010, the Illinois softball team earned a berth into the 2016 NCAA Tournament and was selected as one of the 32 at-large bids, as announced on the NCAA Selection Show on Sunday (May 15) night.
The Illini will travel to the Lexington Regional hosted by overall No. 9 seed Kentucky and will face Utah (32-19) on Friday (May 20) in the opening round at John Cropp Stadium in Lexington, Ky. The double-elimination regional will be held on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, with the host Wildcats (43-12) taking on Butler (28-22) in the other first round contest.
Game times have not been set, and neither have any television assignments. That information will be released at a later time early this week and will be made available on FightingIllini.com.
Tickets will go on sale Monday morning at the Joe Craft Center ticket office, as well as online at UKathletics.com/tickets. Fans can find all Lexington Regional information at Tourney Central here: http://bit.ly/Regional_TourneyCentral.
Illinois is making their fifth overall appearance in the NCAA Tournament and owns a 7-8 record in postseason play with appearances in 2003, 2004, 2009 and 2010. The Illini have advanced to the Regional Final once in program history, falling to No. 3 seed LSU in the Waco, Texas Regional in 2004.
The Illini finished the first regular season under first-year head coach Tyra Perry with a 34-20 overall record and earned the No. 7 seed in the 2016 Big Ten Softball Tournament with a 12-11 mark in conference play. UI advanced to the Big Ten Tournament quarterfinals before bowing out to tournament champion Minnesota. The Illini, who's 35 wins ranks as fifth-best in program history, come into postseason play on a hot streak having lost only four contests since April 15, having won eight of their last 10 games.
As a conference, the Big Ten earned six bids in the tournament as overall No. 2 seed Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, Northwestern and Ohio State join the Illini in the tournament field.
For more Fighting Illini softball news, stay tuned to FIGHTINGILLINI.com and follow the team on Twitter @IlliniSB or like Fighting Illini Softball on Facebook.
