SPRINGFIELD, Mo.— The Drury University softball program is in the NCAA-II Tournament for the first time in team history as the Panthers received an at-large bid today and will head to Evansville, Indiana, as the number five seed in the Midwest Region.
Drury is 36-15 and will play will fourth-seeded Lindenwood on Thursday at noon in the opening round of the four-team, double-elimination sub-regional bracket. The Lions will enter the national tournament with a 35-11 record.
Southern Indiana (43-10) is the top seed and the sub-regional host. The Screaming Eagles play eighth-seeded Saginaw Valley State (34-18) at 2:30 pm on Friday in the other opening round game.
The winners of Thursday’s games face one another on Friday at noon, while the two losing teams play an elimination game at 2:30 pm on Friday.
The championship of the sub-regional is on Saturday.
The winner of the Evansville bracket will advance to the Midwest SuperRegional and play the other sub-regional winner, hosted by Indianapolis, in a best-of-three series May 19-20. Each of the eight SuperRegional series winners will advance to the NCAA-II National Championship site in Denver, Colorado, May 24-28.
Midwest Regional #1 Bracket Schedule
Evansville, Ind.
THURSDAY
Game 1- #5 DRURY vs. #4 Lindenwood, noon
Game 2- #1 Southern Indiana v. #8 Saginaw Valley St., 2:30 pm
FRIDAY
Game 3- winner Game 1 vs. winner Game 2, noon
Game 4- loser Game 1 vs. loser Game 2, 2:30 pm
Game 5- loser Game 3 vs. winner Game 4, 5 pm
SATURDAY
Game 6- winner of Game 3 vs. winner of Game 5, noon
Game 7 (if necessary)- winner Game 6 vs. loser of Game 6, 2:30 pm
