The regional sites for the 2004 Division I Softball Championship were announced Monday with few surprises.
Arizona, the No. 1 team in the country and one of three Pacific-10 Conference clubs on the list, is one of eight teams that will host a regional the weekend of May 20-23.
The Wildcats will host their regional on their home field — Rita Hillenbrand Memorial Stadium in Tucson, Ariz. — for the seventh time in the stadium’s eight years.
Defending national champion UCLA also is on the list of regional hosts. The No. 3 Bruins host their regional at Easton Stadium.
Rounding out the Pac-10 regional hosts is No. 9 Stanford. The Cardinal’s regional is at Boyd & Jill Smith Family Stadium.
Of the remaining five regional hosts, three of them join the Pac-10 schools in the top 10. Second-ranked Florida State, No. 6 Michigan and No. 8 Georgia will host regionals this month. It is the first time for Georgia and the third consecutive year for Michigan to host regionals.
The other two schools are ranked in the top 25, but not the top 10 — No. 13 Nebraska was selected for the second-straight year and No. 21 Baylor is a first-time host.
Florida State will host a regional for the third time in four seasons.
“This is really a credit to our administration and all the support staff that worked so hard to make our past regionals first class events,” Florida State head coach Dr. JoAnne Graf said in a release. “It is an honor to host an NCAA Regional and we are appreciative that the NCAA felt we did such a good job that they could trust us to host for the third time in the last four years.”
Each of the eight regionals is an eight-team,double-elimination tournament. The 64 teams will be named May 16 in a selection show on ESPNews.

Bruin an ace
UCLA senior Kiera Goerl opened and closed Sunday’s game against the Beavers with strikeouts.
Her strikeout that clinched the victory for the Bruins — Oregon State’s Alana Mendoza — was also the 1,000th strikeout of her career. Goerl, who picked up the 119th victory of her career Sunday, is the first Bruin and 25th player in NCAA history to strike out 1,000 batters.
“Breaking a record is always a wonderful thing, but to be the first, you’ll never change that,” UCLA head coach Sue Enquist told the Daily Bruin on Sunday. “She’ll always be the first.”

Third time’s the charm?
The Wildcats are up to three.
Three losses, that is, as No. 9 Stanford became the third conference team to knock off Arizona with a 2-1 win Sunday.
The Cardinal lit up Wildcat starter Alicia Hollowell for 12 hits, her highest hit total this season.
“I told the team that I give (Stanford starter) Dana Sorensen all the credit, but we came out really on cruise,” Arizona acting head coach Larry Ray told the Arizona Daily Wildcat on Sunday. “I expected that (Stanford was) going to move the ball a lot, but I just thought we would be a little bit more prepared defensively.”
Arizona’s previous losses were to No. 7 Washington in a pre-season tournament and No. 11 Oregon on April 25 at Howe Field.