Toros Softball Makes NCAA West Regional as No. 6 Seed
CSUDH opens play Thursday morning against CCAA Champion and No. 3 seed Cal State Bakersfield
May 3, 2004

Indianapolis, IN -- Cal State Dominguez Hills (32-20-1) was selected as the West Region's No. 6 seed and will make its second-consecutive appearance in the NCAA Regional Tournament, it was announced today by the NCAA Regional Tournament Committee.

The double-elimination tournament, which pits the top six teams in the region, begins this Thursday and will be hosted by the West Region's No. 1 seed Humboldt State, in Arcata, CA.

The 1-2 pitching combination of juniors Valerie Long (left) and Lisa Grove (center), along with sophomore speedster Cindy Perry lead the Toros

The Toros entered the final weekend of play last Friday as the West Region's No. 6 seed, followed by the region's respective No. 7 and No. 8 seeds, Grand Canyon and UC San Diego, who also were concluding their final weekend games including contests against San Francisco State, which began the weekend as the No. 5 seed. CSUDH dropped two of three games to the Coyotes on Saturday (including the suspended game from March 6 which was completed prior to the regularly scheduled doubleheader), but received help from SFSU, which won five of six over the weekend including four victories over Grand Canyon and one over UCSD, and Sonoma State, which split with UCSD and swept GCU. Over the final weekend, GCU went 1-5 while UCSD finished 1-3, helping the Toros' cause.

The 1-2 pitching combination of juniors Valerie Long (Stockton, CA/St. Mary's HS) and Lisa Grove (Buena Park, CA/Kennedy HS), along with sophomore speedster Cindy Perry (Victorville, CA/Silverado HS), lead the Toros, who have won 16 of their last 22 contests, including five of their last six games.

Long and Grove have combined for 25 of the Toros' 32 victories, and boast a combined ERA of 1.64 while hurling 29 complete games and 13 shutouts, limiting opposing hitters to a .203 batting average.

Perry leads the Toros in batting average (.382), hits (66), runs scored (38), on-base % (.425) and stolen bases (35-37), having established five CSUDH offensive records this season.

Here's the NCAA West Region Tournament schedule:

Thursday, May 6
Game #1 No. 4 San Francisco State vs. No. 5 Seattle University 9 a.m.
Game #2 No. 3 Cal State Bakersfield vs. No. 6 Cal State Dominguez Hills 11:30 a.m.
Game #3 No. 1 Humboldt State vs. Winner #1 2 p.m.
Game #4 No. 2 Western New Mexico vs. Winner #2 4:30 p.m.
Friday, May 7
Game #5 Loser Game #1 vs. Loser Game #4 9 a.m.
Game #6 Loser Game #2 vs. Loser Game #3 11:30 a.m.
Game #7 Winner Game #3 vs. Winner Game #4 2 p.m.
Game #8 Winner Game #5 vs. Winner Game #6 4:30 p.m.
Saturday, May 8
Game #9 Loser Game #7 vs. Winner Game #8 11:00 a.m.
Game #10 Winner Game #7 vs. Winner Game #9 1:30 p.m.
Sunday, May 9
Game #11 Game #10 opponents (if necessary) 12 noon -