Truman State University Athletics

Softball Qualifies for 2016 NCAA Tournament

Softball | 5/2/2016 11:47:00 AM

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INDIANAPOLIS - - Team No. 44 will wear the No. 17 for at least another week.

For the 17th time in the history of Bulldog softball and for the third straight season, the Truman State University softball team will participate in the NCAA Div. II tournament, which is set to begin on Thursday (May 5) afternoon on the campus of the University of Missouri-St. Louis in Midwest regional No. 2.

The Bulldogs, who closed the regular season with a 30-18 overall record, will enter the Midwest regional as the No. 6 seed and will take on third-seeded Wayne (Mich.) State to open the 64-team tournament. The Warriors (46-7) were crowned champions of the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference for the fifth straight time this past weekend, winning four straight games in Findlay, Ohio.

Truman and WSU have not met since the start of the 2013 season and are 2-2 all-time in the four meetings between the programs.

The teams will play at 12:00 p.m. (CT) on Thursday, and will be the first of two games that day. Two other GLVC programs – No. 2 seed and weekend-host Missouri-St. Louis (52-7) and No. 7 seed Maryville (37-14) will compete at 2:30 p.m., with action set to continue for all four teams into Friday (May 6).

The four teams will face off in a double-elimination, three-day tournament, with the winner advancing to face the Midwest regional No. 1 victor on May 11-12 in the Midwest super-regional. The second Midwest regional features top-seeded Indianapolis (50-3), No. 4 seed Grand Valley (Mich) State (37-10), No. 5 seed Southern Indiana (35-19), and No. 8 seed Trevecca Nazarene (Tenn.) (43-15) and will be held in Indianapolis this weekend as well.

This marks the third postseason appearance for the Bulldogs under the direction of 10th-year head coach Erin Brown, with the program holding a 23-34 all-time record in the NCAA tournament during the previous 43 seasons of softball at the University. Last season's squad lost a pair of close contests to Ashland (Ohio) and Trevecca Nazarene at a sub-regional site in Indianapolis.

Regional competition will take place across the nation May 5-7, with winners advancing to super regional play on May 11-12. The 2016 NCAA Div. II finals with eight remaining teams will commence from May 17-21 in Denver, Colo.

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