King's, Lebanon Valley and Messiah have all earned spots in the 2010 NCAA Division III Tournament.
The King’s College softball team has learned it will be heading to Ithaca, NY to compete in the NCAA Regional Championships at Ithaca College. The regional event, which serves as a qualifier for the 2010 Division III College World Series, will run from Thursday through Monday.
It will mark King's 10th trip to the NCAA Division III National Tournament since 2000.
King’s (21-16) has been seeded fifth among the eight teams and will face fourth-seeded Alfred University (34-6) in the first round Thursday at 12:00 noon. Should the Lady Monarchs win their first-round pairing they would meet the winner between the opening round matchup between top-seeded Cortland (38-6) and eighth-seeded Keuka (23-8).
The #23 Lebanon Valley College softball team has been selected for the NCAA Tournament as an at-large bid and will travel to Ithaca, N.Y. for the Regional. The Dutchmen will take on Polytechnic Institute of NYU on Thursday, May 13 at 2 p.m. LVC is the regional's third seed, while Polytechnic is the sixth seed.
The eight-team regional is a double-elimination setup, with the winner going to the NCAA Finals on May 21-25 at Carson Park in Eau Claire, Wis.
The winner of the LVC/Polytechnic game will meet the winner of Dickinson/Ithaca on Friday at 4 p.m. The losers of each of those match-ups will meet on Friday at noon.
Nationally-ranked Lebanon Valley has never played Polytechnic before. The Lady Jays posted a 31-9 record this season and finished with a 13-1 record in the Skyline Conference, capturing their first-ever conference title.
The Dutchmen are making their second appearance in the NCAA tournament. LVC last appeared in the tournament in 2008, falling to DeSales and Defiance at the Regional in Ithaca, N.Y.
LVC has met Dickinson and King's before, but have yet to face any of the other five teams in the bracket. The Dutchmen went 4-8 against NCAA qualifiers this season, sweeping Moravian and tallying a win against Messiah and Susquehanna.
If Messiah softball hopes to make it back-to-back national championships this spring, the team has plenty of immediate work ahead.
The NCAA announced the 2010 NCAA Division III Softball National Championships 60-team field and pairings Monday at noon, revealing that Messiah will travel to Christopher Newport University in Newport News, Va. to begin its post-season run.
The Falcons are seeded fourth in the eight-team regional, and will face Greensboro College (27-13-1) in the opening round Thursday at noon. Should Messiah win, it would likely pit the 2009 national champions against the region’s top seed, Salisbury University (33-2), which enters the NCAA Tournament on a school-record 30-game winning streak.
Messiah — which won the 2009 national championship with a perfect 8-0 record during its NCAA Tournament run — will face a Greensboro team which claimed the USA South Conference Championship.
When the Pride faces Messiah Thursday, it will have been just over three weeks since the team had last played a game, as Greensboro’s season ended in a split with Lynchburg College — a double-dip which came after the Pride’s conference tournament — back on Apr. 21.
Prior to a 0-6 loss to the Hornets, Greensboro had won 17 games in a row — a program record.
A Messiah win would pit the Falcons against the winner of the Salisbury – Eastern Mennonite University (19-16) match-up, while a loss would send the team to the loser’s bracket. Either way, Messiah would not play again until Friday — the winner’s bracket game at 2 p.m. or the loser’s bracket tilt at 10 a.m.
Host Christopher Newport (36-8) earned the region’s number two seed behind an at-large berth, while Susquehanna University (32-11) was selected as the three seed after an at-large bid of its own.
Susquehanna lost to Moravian College in the Landmark Conference Championship game, while Christopher Newport fell to Ferrum College in the USA South tournament — only after getting beaten by none other than Greensboro, 11-5.