Huskies snap up sixth overall seed in NCAA softball tourney

The 11th-ranked Washington softball team got a pleasant surprise Sunday when it was installed as the No. 6 overall seed in the 64-team NCAA tournament. First-round play begins Thursday.

The Huskies (35-16) will face Creighton (39-12-1) at 2 p.m. Friday in the first round of a four-team, double-elimination regional in Lincoln, Neb. Host school Nebraska (37-18) and Georgia (43-26) also play Friday.

Should the Huskies win their regional, which they have done each of the past two seasons, their seeding would entitle them to host a best-of-three Super Regional series the following week.

Coach Heather Tarr figures Washington's strength of schedule — the Huskies had the seventh-best RPI nationally through May 6 — contributed significantly to its higher-than-expected seeding.

"It's funny how it played out on television," said Tarr, who gathered with her players at Husky Softball Stadium to watch the selection show on ESPNews. "When they came out with the sixth seed, and we were mentioned first, we were like, 'Whoa!' We were obviously surprised and excited."

Washington finished in a third-place tie in the Pac-10 with UCLA at 12-9 — the Huskies' first above-.500 finish in the conference since 2002.

All eight Pac-10 teams were invited to the tournament, the most of any conference. The Southeastern Conference was next, with seven.

Of the 25 softball titles the NCAA has awarded, Pac-10 teams have won 19.

Arizona (39-12-1), the 2006 national champion, is the No. 1 seed. Arizona State, the Pac-10's second-place team, is seeded seventh, and UCLA is No. 12.

Northwestern (45-11), which lost to Arizona in last year's Women's College World Series final, is the No. 2 overall seed, followed by Oklahoma (52-8), Texas A&M (40-11) and top-ranked Tennessee (54-5).

Among the key players fueling Washington's success this season are outfielder Dena Tyson (team-high .427 average, 17 home runs), junior shortstop Ashley Charters (.394) and sophomore pitcher Danielle Lawrie (24-10, 1.54 earned-run average, 373 strikeouts in 214 innings).

Tyson, who slugged home runs in six straight games and in late April was named national player of the week, is pictured in the "Faces in the Crowd" section of this week's Sports Illustrated.

"Dena Tyson is having a career year," Tarr said. "She gives our lineup that extra oomph, the Barry Bonds factor. Ashley Charters, Lauren Greer [.295, team-high 13 doubles] and Marnie Koziol [.318] have all come through with some big at-bats."

This team's potential? "It's limitless,' said Tarr, in her third year as coach. "The opportunity is there for us. Now it's just a matter of what we do with it."

Notes

• This will be Washington's 14th straight postseason appearance, and the No. 6 seed is the highest for a Tarr-coach Huskies team. Washington, seeded 14th last year and 16th in 2005, last played in the College World Series in 2004.

• No other team in UW's regional is ranked in the top 25. Creighton is the Missouri Valley Conference champion, winning both the regular-season and tournament titles. Georgia and Nebraska, like UW, received at-large bids to the tournament.

• Texas Tech, in its third season under former UW coach Teresa Wilson, advanced to the championship game of the Big 12 tournament but lost 6-3 Saturday to regular-season champion Oklahoma. The Red Raiders (24-27) did not receive a bid to the NCAA tournament.