May 19, 2004

TUCSON, Ariz. – South Carolina softball received a second life Sunday thanks to the NCAA Softball Committee and will get the chance to play in their sixth straight NCAA Tournament beginning May 20. The Gamecocks (27-22) will take on the Ragin’ Cajuns of Louisiana-Lafayette (55-6) Thursday at 5 p.m. (EDT) at Hillenbrand Stadium on the campus of the University of Arizona. USC is the No. 4 seed while the Ragin Cajuns are the No. 5 seed.

This marks the 14th appearance for the Gamecock program to the tournament. Against La.-Lafayette, USC is just 4-20 with their last meeting coming in 1999. South Carolina lost the 1-0 decision.

The Ragin Cajuns earned an automatic bid as they won the Sun Belt Conference tournament and went 18-0 in the conference. Holly Tankersley leads the way for La.-Lafayette with a .354 average and 20 home runs. Tankersley also leads the team in RBI’s with 48 followed by Danyele Gomez with 47. On the pitching side, Brooke Mitchell has an impressive 0.55 ERA with a 41-3 record and 484 strikeouts.

The Gamecocks are coming off of an 0-2 appearance at the SEC Tournament falling to No. 2 LSU and No. 12 Auburn and hope to snap the losing streak. The SEC landed eight teams in the NCAA Tournament, a first for the conference. This also marks the first time the SEC received more bids then the powerhouse conference of softball, the PAC-10.

The Garnet and Black are led by second team All-SEC selection Nancy Crane and senior pitcher Stacey Johnson. Crane has a .329 average with 54 hits, 28 runs and 15 stolen bases. Johnson boasts a 1.21 ERA and has a 16-12 record. For the regular season, the Newtown, Pa. native went undefeated against non-conference teams with a 7-0 record. Johnson’s last win against a ranked team was back on April 17 against then 13th-ranked Alabama.

The winner of the USC vs. La-Louisiana game will play the winner of the Arizona vs. Centenary game on Friday at 5 p.m. (EDT), while the two losers of the two games will play at noon (EDT) on Friday.

All USC games can be followed live via the Internet on www.uscsports.com or through Gametracker. Saturday and Sunday games at the Tucson Regional will be broadcast by CSTV: College Sports Television.