The University of Charleston softball team is back in the NCAA Regionals, but it's first opponent is a familiar, and daunting, one.
The Golden Eagles - Division II Women's College World Series participants last season who fell in the losers bracket of the Mountain East Conference tournament this season - open their regional tournament against the MEC's regular-season and tournament champions, West Virginia Wesleyan, at 2:30 p.m. Thursday. UC (35-19) is the Atlantic Region's No. 7 seed. Wesleyan (44-7), the host for their four-team bracket, is the Atlantic's No. 2 seed. Kutztown and Bloomsburg will face off on the other side of the bracket at noon Thursday, with the winners and losers in each game playing each other next in the double-elimination tournament. The winners play at 10 a.m. Friday, while the losers play at 12:30 p.m. Friday.
UC has dropped four of the five games the Golden Eagles have played against Wesleyan this year, including a 7-4 loss in the MEC tournament that sent Charleston into the losers bracket, where they were shut out and knocked out of the tournament by Concord, 2-0.
Still, plenty of players from last season's WCWS run remain on the team, including first baseman Laura Ashlock and pitchers Alli Burdette and Jessie Rowe. The Golden Eagles also added the MEC Freshman of the Year, catcher Haleigh Christopher, who hit .415 with 14 home runs and 57 RBIs this season.
The Golden Eagles have had good fortune against WVWC in the NCAA tournament. In last season's super regional round, Charleston earned its inaugural WCWS berth by taking two of three games from Wesleyan in Buckhannon.
The Bobcats feature the MEC's Player of the Year, outfielder Tori Pogue, Pitcher of the Year Hannah Vet and Coach of the Year Steve Warner.