SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. - After winning its first WCC softball title, Saint Mary's clinched an automatic bid to the NCAA Regionals as announced on Sunday evening by the NCAA. The Gaels will stay in-state and play in the Stanford Regional from May 16-19 at Boyd And Jill Smith Family Stadium on the Stanford campus, hosted by the No. 8 seed Cardinal.

The Gaels will meet Stanford in its first game on Friday, May 17 at 7 p.m. PT, while Mississippi State will play Cal State Fullerton in the other regional opener. SMC has defeated the Cardinal three times in the all-time series, most recently in 2021. 

Saint Mary's (30-22, 10-6) won its first Conference title in program history downing LMU 8-0 yesterday in a must win game. SMC and LMU were tied 9-6 heading into the final game of the series. The Gaels are making their first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2010.

Regionals — at 16 sites — are double-elimination and scheduled for May 16-19. The top team from each of the 16 regional sites will advance to the NCAA Super Regionals held May 23-26 on eight campus sites. At each site, two teams play in a best-of-three tournament format. The winners from each site advance to the NCAA Women's College World Series starting on May 30 in Oklahoma City.