Posted: May 17, 2021
(Story courtesy of the Texas Lutheran Sports Information Department)
SEGUIN, Texas -- Texas Lutheran Softball, the No. 1-ranked team and defending national champion of NCAA Division III, will host an NCAA Softball Regional this Friday, Saturday, and Sunday at TLU's Ed Kruse Stadium - Morck Softball Field. All 2021 Regional Tournament Brackets (pdf) • Seguin, Texas Regional Tournament Bracket (jpg)
The NCAA Division III Softball Committee made the announcement at noon Monday regarding the 48 teams that will compete in the Division III Softball Championship.
Six teams each will compete at the eight regional sites.
The national championship finals, hosted by Old Dominion Athletic Conference and city of Salem, will be held May 27-June 1 at Moyer Park in Salem, Va.
All rounds will use a double-elimination format.
The six teams coming to the Seguin, Texas Regional are: No. 1 seed TLU (28-4), No. 2 seed Emory & Henry (26-7) out of Emory, Va., No. 3 seed Christopher Newport (28-12) out of Newport News, Va., No. 4 seed Emmanuel College (20-4) out of Boston, No. 5 seed Bridgewater State (17-9) out of Bridgewater, Mass., and No. 6 seed Cedar Crest College (17-3) out of Allentown, Pa.
TLU opens the regional tournament at 11 a.m. Friday against Cedar Crest. Game two of the regional will feature Emory & Henry vs. Bridgewater State at 1:30 p.m., and game three will have Christopher Newport vs. Emmanuel at 4 p.m.
The first elimination game of the regional (game four) takes place at 6:30 p.m. Friday. That game will pit the loser of TLU/Cedar Crest vs. the loser of Emory & Henry/Bridgewater State.
If TLU wins its opening game with Cedar Crest, the Bulldogs would face the loser of game three, either Christopher Newport or Emmanuel, at 11 a.m. Saturday.
Fans will be allowed at the regional tournament. Fan capacity will be capped at 50 percent. The 50 percent number for Ed Kruse Stadium is 386 fans. Admittance for each game will be on a first-come, first-serve basis.
Tickets are $5 per game. The stadium will be cleared of fans after each game.
The NCAA has instituted a championship-wide mask policy. Masks are required at all times when not actively eating or drinking. Fans are also encouraged to use social distancing at the stadium.
Forty-one conferences received an automatic qualification (Pool A). One institution was selected from Pool B, which includes independent institutions and schools from conferences that do not meet the automatic qualification criteria. The six remaining teams were selected on an at-large basis from automatic qualifying conferences and the remaining institutions in Pool B.
