Fresno State softball team learns opponent, regional site to open NCAA Tournament

Fresno State, the Mountain West Conference softball champion, landed in the NCAA Tournament’s Los Angeles Regional on Sunday when the 64-team draw was announced, joining host and No. 2 overall seed UCLA, Minnesota and Long Beach State.

The Bulldogs (36-10) will play Minnesota (29-11) in their opening game at 5 p.m. Friday at Easton Stadium. The game will be televised on ESPNU.

“I think we were expecting UCLA and I think being a No. 3 seed, that’s a huge thing for us,” said Jodie Cox, who has been the Bulldogs’ interim coach since Linda Garza took a leave of absence one month ago. “Right now, this team, nothing can stop us. We’ve worked so hard. These women have been through so much. I think it’s exciting to stay in our home state and go get after Minnesota on Friday.”

It is not an easy draw, but there is no such thing for Group of Five programs. The last time a non-power conference team advanced to the Women’s College World Series was 2014, when Louisiana did so, and there have been three since 2010.

That Louisiana team ended the season ranked No. 8 in the nation — the Bulldogs are not in the USA Today/NFCA Coaches Top 25, though they are among the schools also receiving votes. Fresno State also was just 47th in the NCAA RPI rankings through games of May 15, and there are 16 Group of Five programs ranked higher.

But Fresno State does have one thing in common with that Ragin’ Cajuns team – a dominant pitcher in senior Hailey Dolcini, who is 21-4 with an ERA of 1.01 this season and allowed opponents to bat .169.

Louisiana, which beat seven Power Five conference opponents on the way to Oklahoma City, had Christina Hamilton.

Hamilton was 29-2 with an ERA of 1.53 through the Super Regional and in the NCAA Tournament had recorded 104 of 105 outs for the Ragin’ Cajuns on the way to the CWS.

“We faced UCLA our very first game of the season in February, but we’re a completely different team now. Hailey Dolcini is 100% a different pitcher,” Cox said. “She is on a whole different level than she was and pitching sometimes is the name of the game and between her and Dariana Orme, who has been hot as of late, I think between the two of them we’re going to have a good shot. But any time Dolcini is on the mound I like our chances.”

Fresno State this season is 1-4 against Power Five opponents, splitting two games with Cal and losing to UCLA and Oregon twice. The Bulldogs allowed seven or more runs in three of those games and an average of 5.2.

“We talk about this a lot,” Cox said. “The game doesn’t know (whether you’re a Group of Five or a Power Five). We’re going to go into a regional and when we face UCLA, the game doesn’t know who is supposed to win. There’s pressure on both sides. UCLA is going to have some pressure — they have to stay on top. Our job is to knock them off. Of course, some of the Power Fives are a big gap, but it’s not always like that.

“Any day, anything can happen. A ball bounces your way, the right way. A pitcher is on or someone gets a hold of a ball with two runners on. Honestly, in this game, anything can happen. With this team and where we’re at right now, our mentality, I wouldn’t put it past something going our way, for sure. ”

It is the Bulldogs’ 34th NCAA Tournament appearance and first since 2017 when going 1-2 at the Seattle Regional — they opened with a 3-1 loss to Michigan, beat Montana 7-0 and were eliminated with a 4-0 loss to the Wolverines.

Fresno State last advanced to the Women’s College World Series in 1999, the year after winning a national championship under coach Margie Wright.

Minnesota is 29-11 this season and finished second in the Big Ten.

The Golden Gophers are leading the conference with 47 home runs and are third with 187 runs scored, Natalie DenHartog leads Minnesota with 13 home runs and 35 RBI, and her .731 slugging percentage leads the Big Ten.

Amber Fiser started 23 games, going 15-8 with an ERA of 2.19. The Bulldogs could also see Autumn Pease, who started 17 games, going 11-2 with an ERA of 1.63.

This story was originally published May 16, 2021 at 6:34 PM.