BETHLEHEM, Pa. – One day after winning its 15th Patriot League Tournament title, Lehigh learned its NCAA Tournament fate Sunday night. The Mountain Hawks are headed to the Seattle Regional to face No. 13 national seed Washington.
 
The game will be the second of two games scheduled for Friday at Husky Softball Stadium, with game time set for 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT. Friday's opening game in Seattle matches Texas against Weber State and is set for 5:30 p.m. ET. The Lehigh-Washington game will be broadcast on ESPN+.
 
"I've known (Washington coach) Heather (Tarr) for a long time and she's a great coach and a great friend," Lehigh head coach Fran Troyan said. "We're just thrilled to be going out to the Seattle area."

The Mountain Hawks (30-18-1) will be making their 11th NCAA Regional appearance and first since 2017. Lehigh will be facing Washington for the first time. The Mountain Hawks will be looking to defeat a Pac-12 team for the first time in 12 tries. It will be the fourth time in 11 appearances that the Mountain Hawks will open regional play against a team from the Pac-12 (Arizona in 2005, Stanford at Amherst, Mass. in 2008, UCLA in in 2017).
 
Lehigh's roster features six players from the west coast, four from California, one from Arizona and junior infielder Josie Charles from Sammamish, Wash., who will get to enjoy a homecoming for regional play.
 
The Mountain Hawks advanced to their 11th NCAA Regional by defeating Boston University twice on Saturday, by scores of 1-0 and 4-1 to claim their 15th Patriot League crown. Lehigh won its first title since 2017 five years to the day of its last tournament triumph.
 
Senior Gabriella Nori was named tournament MVP after allowing one run over 13 innings against Boston University, including a five-hit shutout in Saturday's first game. Sophomore Katelyn Young went 3-0 in the circle to join Nori on the All-Tournament Team along with seniors Jaelynn Chesson and Addie Kittel, who hit back-to-back home runs in the 4-1, championship-clinching victory. Chesson hit her Lehigh single season-record 14th home run and now has 45 RBIs on the season.
 
"We want them to have a great time and to enjoy the experience, but we're going out there to compete," Troyan said. "We're a good team right now and we're trying to take this program from good to great. We're going to go out there and try and do the best that we can."
 
Washington earned an at-large bid out of the Pac-12 and finished the regular season at 35-15. The Huskies finished third in the Pac-12 behind Arizona State and UCLA. Washington won the 2009 National Championship and has been the national runner-up three times, most recently in 2018.
 
Texas is an at-large representative out of the Big 12 Conference. The Longhorns are 38-17-1 overall. Lehigh has never faced Texas in softball.
 
Weber State won the Big Sky Conference title and comes in at 38-10 overall. Lehigh and Weber State met twice in 2019 at the GCU Invitational with the Wildcats winning both previous meetings.
 
Lehigh is 7-20 all-time in NCAA Regional play and defeated Central Arkansas in 2015 for its most recent NCAA win.
 
The winner of this double-elimination regional will face the winner of the Fayetteville, Arkansas regional in the Super Regionals next weekend. Lehigh has never won a regional, but reached the regional finals in both 2006 and 2009, eliminating Texas A&M to get to the regional finals in both years.
 
Every game of all 16 regionals will be broadcast on the ESPN family of networks, however specific television coverage beyond Friday's games is still to be determined.
 
Seattle Regional Schedule (all times Eastern)
Friday, May 20
Game 1 – 5:30 p.m. – Texas vs. Weber State – Longhorn Network
Game 2 – 8 p.m. – Lehigh at Washington – ESPN+
 
Saturday, May 21
Game 3 – 5 p.m. – Winner Game 1 vs. Winner Game 2
Game 4 – 7:30 p.m. – Loser Game 1 vs. Loser Game 2
Game 5 – 10 p.m. – Loser Game 3 vs. Winner Game 4
 
Sunday, May 22
Game 6 – 6 p.m. – Winner Game 3 vs. Winner Game 5
Game 7 – 8:30 p.m. – Winner Game 6 vs. Loser Game 6 (if necessary)