Rio to face Tigers in NAIA tourney opener
Rio Grande Sports Information
RIO GRANDE, Ohio - The University of Rio Grande softball team will begin its quest for a national title as part of the University of South Carolina-Beaufort Regional in the 2015 NAIA Softball National Championship Opening Round.
The pairings for the 10, four-team regional sites were announced Thursday night by the NAIA national office.
The fourth-seeded RedStorm (31-14) will face No. 1 seed Campbellsville (34-8) at 3 p.m., while No. 2 seed USC-Beaufort (40-12) meets third-seeded Indiana Wesleyan (47-10) in the noon opener of the regional on Monday, May 11, at the Richard Gray Sports Complex in Hardeeville, S.C.
The winner's bracket final and a pair of elimination games are slated for Tuesday, May 12, while the championship first final - and a second final, if necessary - will take place on Wednesday, May 13.
Rio Grande earned its spot in the double-elimination tournament by virtue of winning the Kentucky Intercollegiate Athletic Conference tournament crown with a pair of wins over three-time defending conference champion Indiana University-Southeast last Friday in Danville, Ky.
Rio Grande is the only KIAC school in the tournament field, which includes 31 automatic qualifiers, four Opening Round host berths and five at-large selections.
The RedStorm are one of 14 schools making their first appearance in the national tournament since the current format was adopted in 2013.
Rio Grande is actually making its second trip to the national tourney, though, after making the field in 2004 as the champion of the now-defunct America Mideast Conference.
That season, the then-Redwomen lost their opening game against Brescia (Ky.) in Decatur, Ala. before posting consecutive wins over No. 10 North Georgia, St. Xavier (Ill.) and No. 11 St. Scholastica (Minn.).
However, Rio saw its season end with a school-record 40 wins in its fifth game of the tournament - a 3-2 loss in nine innings to No. 6-ranked Columbia (Mo.).
Of the 40 schools comprising this year's tournament field, three of last four national champions - Auburn-Montgomery (2014), Concordia, Calif. (2013) and Oregon Tech (2011) - will be competing.
The 10 regional tournament winners will advance to the 35th Annual NAIA World Series, which is slated for May 22-28, at Morningside College in Sioux City, Iowa.