The NCAA softball tournament starts today for McNeese State with the Cowgirls facing a Minnesota team whose power-hitting style of offense is in direct contrast to McNeese’s preferred running game.

The teams meet at 5:30 p.m. in the opening game of the Seattle Regional. Host Washington (38-12), the No. 7 national seed, will face Northern Colorado (26-21).

The Golden Gophers (37-17) have hit 69 home runs compared to McNeese’s 20, led by Crislyne Moreno’s (.271, 28 RBIs) five. By contrast, the Cowgirls have stolen 140 bases to the Gophers’ 25. Reese Reyna (.331, 23 RBIs) has stolen 24 bases followed by Alayis Seneca (.373, 13 RBIs) with 22.

Mariana Torres (.296, 2 HR, team-high 36 RBIs), has stolen 13 bases on 14 attempts.

Four Minnesota players have double-digit home run totals, led by Taylor Krapf with 14 and Jess Oakland with 13. Each of the quartet of power hitters has a batting average of .314 or better. Autumn Pease leads the Gophers pitching staff with a 26-7 record and 1.45 ERA. Pease has allowed 139 hits and 27 walks while striking out 256 batters in 203 innings.

“They play in an extremely tough conference (Big Ten) and are a perennial tournament team,” McNeese head coach James Landreneau said of the Gophers. “They pitch it really well and do a good job of keeping teams off balance. They are a powerful team and kind of live on the long ball a lot.”

McNeese has allowed 19 home runs.

“(Pitching coach Shelbi) Sunseri has done a good job of preparing our pitchers,” Landreneau said. “The key for us has been keeping people off balance, changing speeds often to mix things up.

“Sunseri has called a great game all season long. Our pitching staff has done a good job of buying into being able to throw different pitches on different counts. The biggest difference for us this year has been being able to throw offspeed pitches in any count.”

The core of the pitching staff has been Whitney Tate (16-4, 1.35) and Ashley Vallejo (18-8, 2.19).

McNeese has won 10 consecutive games. Landreneau said his team needs to stick to the script that has led to that streak.

“You have to pitch it well, play clean defense and have timely hitting,” he said. “That’s what it comes down to usually, somebody getting the big hit or somebody making a mistake defensively. We have to do what we’ve been doing: keeping the score totals low, play sound defense and keep ourselves with a swinging chance in every game.”