Alfred to Host Four-Team NCAA Regional May 8-10
The Alfred University softball team has earned a berth into the NCAA Div. III tournament by virtue of winning the Empire 8 Athletic Conference (E8) title and will host a four-team regional May 8-10 at Harrington Park on the campus of Alfred.
The double-elimination regional will open with second-seed Alfred (35-4) against third-seed Lebanon Valley College (17-22) at 1 p.m. Top-seeded Rowan University (36-6) will play fourth-seeded Penn State Behrend (25-14) in the first round on Friday at 3:30 p.m.
Play will continue with three games Saturday, starting at 11 a.m., and the championship round (possible two games) Sunday at noon.
The winner of the regional will advance to a two-team, best-of-three "super regional" May 15-16 versus the winner of the Alfred (N.Y.) Regional at a site to be determined. NCAA Div. III softball changed its tournament format to a regional/super-regional set-up in 2014. The eight super-regional winners will play in the NCAA Div. III World Series May 21-26 in Salem, Va.
Friday, May 8
Game 1: #2 Alfred University vs. #3 Lebanon Valley College, 1 p.m.
Game 2: #1 Rowan University vs. #4 Penn State Behrend, 3:30 p.m.
Saturday, May 9
Game 3: winner of game 1 vs. winner of game 2, 11 a.m.
Game 4: loser of game 1 vs. loser of game 2, 1:30 p.m.
Game 5: winner of game 4 vs. loser of game 3, 4 p.m.
Sunday, May 10
Game 6: winner of game 3 vs. winner of game 5, noon
Game 7: same teams as game 6 (if necessary), 2:30 p.m.
Alfred earned a bid to the regional round by winning the Empire 8 championship tournament at AU last weekend, claiming the league's automatic bid to the NCAA playoffs. Rowan (36-6), a member of the New Jersey Athletic Conference, earned an at-large bid despite falling to Ramapo in Sunday's NJAC tournament title game.
Lebanon Valley (17-22) won the Commonwealth Conference's automatic bid to the NCAAs by defeating Widener for the conference tournament championship on Sunday. Behrend (25-14) defeated D'Youville on Sunday to claim the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference tournament title and the AMCC's NCAA bid.
Alfred, ranked 18
th in the latest NFCA DivisionIII poll and first in the NCAA Northeast Regional rankings, will be making its second straight NCAA appearance and third overall. AU earned at-large bids to the tournament in 2010 and 2014; the Saxons' E8 title this year, and automatic bid to the NCAAs, is the program's first.
There are 62 teams that are competing in the NCAA Division III Softball Championship Tournament. There are 14 four-team regional sites and two three-team regionals. Forty-two conferences received automatic bids (Pool A) and two independents were selected for the championship from Pool B. The 18 remaining schools were selected on an at-large basis from the automatic qualifying conferences and the remaining independent institutions in Pool B.
NCAA Selection Announcement
Printable Bracket (National Bracket Assignments)