![Gophers shortstop Allie Arneson (16) was mobbed by her teammates as the plate after hitting a home run in the fifth inning to put the Gophers on the board. ] ANTHONY SOUFFLE • anthony.souffle@startribune.com The Gophers played the LSU Tigers in an NCAA super regional softball game Saturday, May 25, 2019 at Jane Sage Cowles Stadium in Minneapolis.](https://arc.stimg.co/startribunemedia/ADL5QT724KS2WCNSEQKBFNEHWA.jpg?&w=1080)
The Gophers will open their first Women's College World Series against second-seeded UCLA at 1:30 p.m. Thursday in Oklahoma City. The game will be televised on ESPN.
The Bruins (51-6) went 20-4 in Pac-12 play and swept James Madison in the super regional, winning 6-1 Friday and 7-2 Saturday.
The CWS divides its eight teams into two four-team pods. Each pod plays a double-elimination tournament with the winners facing off in a best-of-three series for the national title.
The seventh-seeded Gophers (46-12) and UCLA will be joined on their side by two other Pac-12 teams: No. 3 Washington and No. 6 Arizona.
The other four teams are No. 1 Oklahoma (Big 12), No. 5 Florida (SEC), No. 8 Alabama (SEC) and No. 13 Oklahoma State (Big 12). Oklahoma State was the only team that won its super regional on the road.
Florida completed the field Sunday, when the Gators defeated Tennessee 2-1 in eight innings to win the series two games to one. Former Gophers standout Kendyl Lindaman leads the Gators in home runs (14) and RBI (53) and is second in hitting (.330).
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