Originally published May 16, 2010 at 9:16 PM | Page modified May 16, 2010 at 9:27 PM

Huskies seeded 3rd in NCAAs

Despite being the nation's No. 1-ranked softball team in every weekly regular-season poll, Washington was named the No. 3 overall seed in the NCAA tournament Sunday night. The Huskies will host a four-team regional round beginning Friday.

By Terry Wood

Special to The Seattle Times

Friday

North Dakota State @ UW, 5 p.m.

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Washington (45-6), which has not hosted an opening round of postseason play since 2000, will face North Dakota State (33-23) at 5 p.m. Friday at Husky Softball Stadium. The double-elimination regional also includes North Carolina (40-18) and Nebraska (29-27), who play at 2:30 p.m. Friday.

Huskies coach Heather Tarr acknowledged she expected to see the Huskies, the defending national champion led by the reigning national player of the year, pitcher Danielle Lawrie, seeded No. 1.

"Initially I was surprised," Tarr said after she and her team gathered at a team meeting room at Husky Softball Stadium to watch the tournament selection show.

"In the big scheme of things, I get it. RPI (Ratings Percentage Index) is one of the top considerations of the selection committee, and they're not the people voting in the weekly polls."

In the last published RPI on May 9, Washington was No. 2. Alabama (48-9), named the tournament's overall No. 1 seed, was at the top. Michigan (46-6), given the No. 2 seed, was third in RPI.

Was Tarr disappointed?

"Oh, my gosh, no," she said. "There's so much parity in this sport now. It could have been any one of us at No. 1. The girls are pumped. They just love to play, and they're excited to be playing at home."

Notes

• None of the other teams in Washington's regional are ranked. North Dakota State won its second straight Summit League title Saturday. North Carolina was eliminated by eventual Atlantic Coast Conference champion Georgia Tech in a five-inning no-hitter Saturday in an ACC tourney semifinal. North Carolina was the No. 4 seed in that tournament.

• Washington is one of five seeded Pac-10 teams, joining No. 5 UCLA, No. 10 Arizona, No. 11 California and No. 13 Arizona State. Stanford and Oregon are also in the field.

• This is the Huskies' 17th straight NCAA appearance.

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