CSU’s softball team clinched the Mountain West title Saturday to secure its first trip to the NCAA Regionals since 2003.

The Rams (37-9, 18-5 MW) won 3-1 at Boise State to take a four-game lead over second-place San Jose State (34-15, 14-6). Colorado State University dropped a 12-inning game Friday night at Boise State 6-5.

CSU, ranked No. 25 in the USA TODAY/National Fastpitch Coaches Association poll, has one conference game remaining Sunday at Boise State, while San Jose State has four remaining. CSU holds the edge over San Jose State in a tiebreaker, because the Rams won two of the three games the schools played against each other this season from April 5-7 in San Jose, California.

The MW doesn’t hold a conference tournament in softball, so its automatic berth in the NCAA Regionals goes to the regular-season champion.

NCAA Regional pairings will be announced at 7 p.m. May 12 on ESPN2.

CSU has only made two previous appearances in the NCAA tournament. The Rams went 2-2 in 1997 in Amherst, Massachusetts, opening with a win over Brown and then losing 2 of 3 games against host Massachusetts. CSU went 0-2 in an NCAA Regional in 2003 in Tucson, Arizona, losing to Arizona and Cal State-Northridge.

The conference title is just the fourth in program history and the Rams’ first since 2004. CSU won High Country Athletic Conference titles in 1989 and 1990 and a Western Athletic Conference championship in 1997.

Kelly Lyell covers CSU and other local sports and sports-related news for the Coloradoan. Follow him at twitter.com/KellyLyell and facebook.com/KellyLyell.news and help support the work he and his fellow journalists do in our community by purchasing a subscription at coloradoan.com/subscribe.