BLOOMSBURG—Bloomsburg University will be the site for the 2002 NCAA Division II Mid-Atlantic Regional Softball Championships Thursday May 9 through Sunday, May 12th. Teams participating in the Mid-Atlantic Regional are Bloomsburg, California (PA), Lock Haven, Shippensburg, Indiana (PA) and Elizabeth City State of North Carolina.

Action will get underway with opening round games Thursday morning at 9:30 a.m. when California (PA) takes on Indiana (PA). At 11:30 a.m. Bloomsburg will face Elizabeth City State and at 1:30 p.m. Lock Haven and Shippensburg will square off. The losers from the first two games meet at 3:30 p.m. with the loser of that game eliminated from the tournament. The games on Friday and Saturday will be played at 10 a.m., 12:30 p.m. and 3 p.m.. On Sunday the games will be played at 12 noon and 2:30 p.m, if necessary.

Bloomsburg University, 38-6, has advanced to the NCAA Championships for a record 20th straight season. The Huskies have won the Mid-Atlantic/East regional championship eight times in school history. The Huskies also have more NCAA post-season wins, 53, than any other D-II school. Among active D-II schools, Florida Southern is second in NCAA post-season wins with 38. The Huskies have finished tied for third and fourth the last two years at the national championships.

Jess Shnyder MVP of PSAC's	Lisa Mull Hitting .402 in 2002

The Huskies' Jess Shnyder was named the MVP of the PSAC tournament after hitting .692 with three homers and seven RBI. Shndyer also had a slugging percentage of 1.538 with 20 total bases. Two of Shnyder's home runs came leading off games with the third being the only run in a win over California last Friday. On the season Shnyder is hitting a team-high .424 with 10 homers and 37 RBI. Lisa Mull is second on Bloomsburg in hitting at .402 with four homers and 27 RBI. Kerri Cooper and Amber Cowher will share most of the pitching duties for Bloomsburg in the tournament. Cooper is 16-3 with a 1.19 ERA, while Cowher is 11-2 with a 1.34 ERA. Cooper has 114 strikeouts, while Cowher has fanned 82.

The Huskies are 15-1 at home this season with the only loss coming to Shippensburg on April 1st. In the NCAA regional playoffs the Huskies have won seven straight games at Hutchinson Field.

California, 32-5, is making their 12th consecutive NCAA appearance. Cal won back-to-back national titles in 1997 and 1998. This season, the Vulcans set a team record for homeruns this season with 50, breaking previous mark of 40. Every starting player has at least two homeruns and 17 RBI. The Vulcan pitching staff has a team ERA of 1.03 and they have given up 7 homeruns and 28 total extra-base hits. Seven players have started every game. Cal has 254 RBI on the season and given up just 45.

Lock Haven, 35-13, is making its second overall appearance in the NCAA tournament and the first time since 1988, when the Lady Eagles finished as the national runners-up. This year's Haven squad is the winningest team in school history with 35 wins and has also established seven other new single-season marks, including at-bats (1,144), hits (348), doubles (57), home runs (16), runs (207), RBI (167), and stolen bases (92). The Lady Eagles' current win-loss percentage of 72.9% is the best in school history. Third-year head coach Kelley Green is 62-61 (.504) over the span of her leadership at LHU, including this year's 35-13 (.729) record.

This is the sixth time that Shippensburg, 34-17, has played in the NCAA Division II tournament. The Lady Raiders were second in 1992 and 1997 in the Mid-Atlantic Region tourneys. Shippensburg has a young team. The Lady Raiders have used six freshmen in the starting lineup during the season. The Lady Raiders are batting .336 as a team. All but one starter is hitting better than .300. Speed on the base paths has helped Shippensburg this season. The team stole 18 in 2001 and 50 this spring. Pitcher Lindsey Williams leads the team in victories with 13. Nicole Brunt has an ERA of 1.83. Brenna Eck leads the team in homers with five and RBIs with 37.

Indiana comes into the regional championship with a record of 25-13. The team has won 25 or more games in each of the past four years, posting a mark of 118-61 over that stretch. Head coach Sue Snyder owns a career mark of 194-135 in eight seasons, all at IUP. She has led the Indians to seven straight winning seasons. Angela Hileman brings five school career records with her into the regional, including games played (178), at bats (613), runs scored (128), hits (214) and stolen bases (54). Jamie DeShong also ranks prominently in the IUP record book. She is fifth in games played (147), fourth in batting average (.342), sixth in at bats (406), fifth in runs scored (90), third in runs batted in (85), fifth in hits (139), third in doubles (28) and second in home runs (16). Kristin Godlesky ranks in the top four in every career pitching category, including third in strikeouts with 187 and tied for fourth in wins with 42. She needs only one more win to move into a second place tie in IUP history.

Elizabeth City State finished 21-9 and in second place in the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association (CIAA) Eastern Division. After not qualifying for the CIAA Softball Championship in 2001, the Lady Vikings won the Tournament this season and are the first softball team in the history of the CIAA to receive an automatic bid to regional play. The Championship was also the first for softball in Elizabeth City State University's history. Head Coach Janie Cofield has been named the 2002 CIAA Coach of the Year.

Rachel White leads the team in hitting at .451 with six homers and 34 RBI, while Lisa Harris is second at .433 with a homer and 36 RBI and Kelly Banks third at .422 with 25 RBI. In all eight Elizabeth City State players are hitting over .300 for the year with the team batting average a lofty .364.

Harris is the team's top pitcher at 19-6 with a 5.09 ERA, while Nicole Higgins is second at 2-3 with a 5.25 ERA.

The winner of the NCAA Mid-Atlantic Regional moves on to the NCAA championship round May 16-20 in Salem, VA for the chance to go for a national championship.