AMHERST - Sitting at the podium at the pre-tournament press conference for the NCAA Amherst Regional, University of Massachusetts senior first baseman Sarah Reeves said she wanted to win, not only to fulfill a dream, but to put off finding employment a little longer.

"This is why you work all those hours. You dream of playing in the College World Series and the NCAA Tournament," she said. "After this we have to get jobs, so why not extend this and have fun."

Arizona State, UMass, Long Island and Boston University all will try to extend their seasons in the four-team regional that begins today at the UMass Softball Complex.

The top-seeded Sun Devils face the Terriers at 5 p.m. followed by the Minutewomen and Blackbirds at 7:30 p.m. There will be three games Saturday, with the championship game at 5 p.m. Sunday, and a second game if necessary at 7:30.

The winner of the double-elimination tournament will face the winner of the Gainesville Regional, which features No. 4 overall seed Florida, Bethune-Cookman, Central Florida and Florida International.

Following is a look at each of the four teams in the Amherst Regional:

Arizona State (41-5) - The Sun Devils are just one season removed from their 2008 national title. They are the No. 13 seed overall in the tournament, but are ranked No. 10 in the National Fastpitch Coaches Association Poll.

Sophomore Hillary Bach will be the likely starting pitcher for Arizona State. She is 23-7 with a 2.34 earned run average and 114 strikeouts.

Sophomore Katelyn Boyd is the team's top hitter at .403 with 15 home runs and 47 RBIs.

The Sun Devils finished fourth in the Pacific-10 and earned an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament. There is no Pac-10 tournament.

Arizona State lost four of its last five games going into the postseason, but two of those were to defending national champion Washington.

"We played very well and beat them on Thursday and played better on Friday, but left too many runners on," coach Clint Myers said.

The Sun Devils had 14 hits in Friday's 5-4 loss to the Huskies and their All-American pitcher Danielle Lawrie.

"Hitting against the best pitcher in the nation, we had 14 hits," said senior Mandy Urfer. "If we can do that against her we can do that against anyone."

UMass (42-8-1) - The Minutewomen are hosting a regional for the fifth straight year, but have not won one since the first in 2006. UMass swept Boston University 3-0 and 7-5 in this season's home-and-home series, and beat both Arizona State and Long Island last year.

Sophomore Sara Plourde leads the nation in wins (40) and strikeouts (545), but will be pitching in the NCAA Tournament for the first time.

The Minutewomen are led offensively by the last two Atlantic 10 players of the year - Katie Bettencourt (2010) and Carly Normandin (2009) - and the 2010 A-10 Tournament most valuable player - Sarah Reeves.

"UMass is a well-coached quality team," Myers said. "They have good athletes and with the young pitcher they have right now, it's going to be interesting."

Long Island (37-16) - Blackbird coach Roy Kortmann did not like it when someone called his team a dark horse. He believes his team, which won the Northeast Conference, has a shot to win this regional and was not shy about saying so.

"I think we can win it," he said. "We're feeling great. We're playing real competitive ball led by five seniors. We feel good about where we're at, what we're doing. We're just trying to take care of what we do well. If we do that, the other team is going to have a hard time beating us."

Senior catcher Mariesha Marker agreed.

"We want to come out and show what Long Island softball is all about and how competitive we can be against these top teams," she said. "We're just as good as anybody else in the nation and this is our time to shine...

"We're very confident," Marker added. "There's no doubt in our minds we can go to super regionals."

Senior Blaire Porter will lead the Blackbirds from the circle after winning her third straight Northeast Conference pitcher of the year award. She was 27-7 with a 1.63 ERA and 159 strikeouts.

Junior shortstop Bianca Mejia, a transfer from Michigan State, was the conference player of the year after hitting .400 with 11 home runs and 31 RBIs.

"Long Island has good teams every year, but their pitching is solid and they always play good defense," UMass coach Elaine Sortino said. "Roy Kortmann has a fabulous program with a good tradition in the NCAA Tournament, representing the Northeast Conference."

Boston University (34-20) - Like UMass and Long Island, the Terriers boast their league's player and pitcher of the year to go along with their America East title.

Senior pitcher Cassidi Hardy was 17-7 with a 2.38 ERA and 217 strikeouts.

Junior outfielder April Setterlund is among the nation's leaders in hitting with a .497 average to go with 12 home runs and 51 RBIs.

"We're really excited to be here. We're anxious to get going. The team is ready," BU coach Shawn Rychcik said. "We have a pretty good pitcher on the mound. Anything can happen... I don't think there's any pressure on us. We're not supposed to do anything."

Setterlund agreed.

"I love being the underdog. We have nothing to lose. We can just play our hearts out," said Setterlund, who liked being close to BU. "It's nice. We have friends that will drive down making it a little more like a home field instead of flying across the country."

FENWAY VISIT - Before arriving in Amherst, the Arizona State softball team headed to Fenway Park. In addition to watching Wednesday night's game between the Red Sox and Twins, the team toured Fenway and met with Red Sox second baseman Dustin Pedroia, an Arizona State alumnus.

"It was incredible. We watched the Red Sox movie #Fever Pitch' on the way there. Seeing all that stuff live was great," Bach said. "We had great seats. It was a great experience. We talked to Pedroia, took pictures and got autographs on our balls. A bunch of us bought T-shirts with his name on the back."

Urfer embraced the Fenway experience.

"I think the highlight was #Sweet Caroline' in the eighth," Urfer said. "It was really fun. Pedroia gave us autographs and was super friendly and nice."

ALL-REGION - Five UMass players were named to Louisville Slugger/National Fastpitch Coaches Association Division I All-Northeast teams that were announced Thursday.

Katie Bettencourt, Meghan Carta, Carly Normandin and Sara Plourde were named to the first team, and Sarah Reeves was selected for the second.

Joining the Minutewomen were several other players competing in the Amherst Regional.

Long Island infielders Brynn Lewis and Mejia and pitcher Porter were named to the first team, and Blackbird catcher Marker and outfielder Chelsea Martinson to the second.

Boston University had two players honored, Setterlund on the first team and Hardy on the second team.

Arizona State shortstop Boyd was named to the West Region first team.

Matt Vautour can be reached at mvautour@gazettenet.com. Follow UMass coverage on Twitter at twitter.com/GazetteUMass. Get UMass coverage delivered in your Facebook news feed at http://www.facebook.com/GazetteUMassCoverage.