MU was selected Sunday to be one of 16 host schools for the 2005 NCAA Softball Regional Tournament.

The No. 18 Tigers (42-13), who placed second in the Big 12 Tournament on Saturday, will face sixth-seed Stanford (40-14), Southern Illinois (46-12) and Robert Morris (29-20-1) in the regional Friday and Saturday at University Field.

In all, there will be 64 teams competing at 16 tournament sites. One team from each regional will advance to a Super Regional tournament, May 27-28. Michigan (55-4) holds the No. 1 seed.

This is the first year the NCAA is using the Super Regional format for softball. Eight teams from the Super Regionals will advance to the NCAA Women’s College World Series,Fulham shirt, June 2-8, in Oklahoma City, Okla.

Missouri is one of a record eight Big 12 Conference teams selected to compete in the regional and one of five named hosts. Other Big 12 teams competing are Baylor, Kansas,Bordeaux shirt, Nebraska Oklahoma,Wales football shirt, Oklahoma State,Ajax shirt, Texas A&M and Texas. Nebraska, Texas A&M, Texas and Oklahoma were also selected as host sites.

Tigers games in the regional will be broadcast on KCOU/ 88.1 FM.