Dec. 1, 2008

SANTA CLARA, Calif. - The Pacific Coast Softball Conference announced they extended invitations for conference membership to six schools to join the existing six-team conference. Accepting bids to the PCSC are California State University Bakersfield, Idaho State University, University of Northern Colorado, Seattle University, Utah Valley University and Weber State. The expanded conference will begin competing in 2010, joining existing team members Loyola Marymount, Portland State, Sacramento State, Saint Mary's, San Diego and Santa Clara raising the conference's membership to 12 schools.

In 2010 the conference will be split into two divisions, the Coastal and the Mountain. The Coastal Division will be the six California-based schools, Cal State Bakersfield, Loyola Marymount, Sacramento State, Saint Mary's, San Diego and Santa Clara. The Mountain Division will include Idaho State, Northern Colorado, Portland State, Seattle, Utah Valley and Weber State. The division winners will meet in a best-of-three championship series to determine the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.

The Santa Clara softball team, an existing member of the conference, will begin competing in February of 2009. An official schedule has yet to be released.