Tommie Sports - Softball
Softball heads to Iowa, faces Coe in NCAA opener
May 07, 2012The No. 14-ranked Tommie softball team (37-7) will play Coe College (34-11) on Friday at 2 p.m. in the first round of the six team, double-elimination Pella, Iowa, regional tournament.
The 61-team Division III playoff field was announced Monday morning and this Pella regional is the lone six-team grouping.
Top-seed Luther faces No. 6-seed St. Scholastica at 10 a.m. No. 2-seed Central faces No. 5 UW-River Falls at noon. The third-seed Tommies pla the Kohawks.
Central defeated Coe twice from the losers' bracket to win the Iowa Conference tournament last weekend.
St. Thomas is the lone MIAC qualifier as conference runner-up Gustavus did not get one of the 20 at-large bids nationally despite a 32-10 record.
The Tommies are in the NCAA playoffs for the 14th time in the last 15 seasons and 19th time overall, with NCAA crowns in 2004 and 2005 and a runner-up finish in 2006. UST has a combined MIAC/NCAA postseason record of 79-35. The Tommies are looking to reach 40 wins for the ninth year in a row.
The Toms have new starters in seven of 10 lineup spots this season but have won 31 of their last 34 games. Their .371 batting average ranks in the top five in Division III.
The Tommies split with UW-River Falls back in early March but have not played Coe, Luther or Central this season. They finished second to Luther in the 2011 regional.
Click here to see Pella bracket and schedule:
