UCLA softball falls to Utah in Pac-12 championship game

The UCLA softball team lost to Utah 7-4 in the Pac-12 Conference championship game on Saturday.

On Sunday that didn’t matter much as the Bruins received the No. 2 overall seed in the NCAA tournament and the right to host one of 16 regionals.

UCLA is making its NCAA tournament-record 38th appearance and will host a regional for the ninth consecutive season.

In the Los Angeles Regional, the Bruins (52-5) will be matched with San Diego State, Liberty and Grand Canyon. The three-day regional stage is double-elimination, with the winner advancing to the Super Regionals.

UCLA, which is 233-64 in the NCAAs since 1982, will open against Grand Canyon at 5 p.m. on Friday.

Altogether, 64 teams were selected to the NCAA field, including Big West Conference champion Long Beach State and runner-up Cal State Fullerton.

The Beach (31-21), who swept Fullerton over the weekend to win the title and qualify for the NCAAs for the third time in five years, are the fourth seed in the Stanford Regional and will go up against Stanford LMU and Florida.

Long Beach State will take on No. 9-seeded Stanford in the opener Friday at 6 p.m.

The Titans (33-19) are the second seed in the Clemson Regional, which includes Clemson, Auburn and UNC Greensboro. Fullerton gets started Friday against Auburn at 2:30 p.m.

The NCAA tournament culminates with the Women’s College World Series, which begins June 1.