D 3 softball

[deiscanton]

SCIAC Game reset

Redlands 6, Chapman 2 after 6 innings.

Chapman is designated home team.

Chapman scored 2 runs in the bottom of the 6th on 4 hits and no Redlands fielding errors.

If Redlands wins this one, Redlands takes the SCIAC AQ.  A Chapman win forces a winner take all game.

[deiscanton]

SCIAC update

Redlands 6, Chapman 2 after 6 1/2 innings.

Redlands is 3 outs away from the SCIAC AQ.

[deiscanton]

SCIAC Championship Game Final

Redlands 6, Chapman 2

Congratulations to Redlands-- NCAA bound-- Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference AQ

With that, the conference tournaments are over-- all 41 AQs have now been decided.  There may be a matter of substitution of backup AQs before the end of the day on Tuesday if an AQ cannot play in the NCAAs due to COVID-19 issues.

[deiscanton]

Teams already in the 2021 NCAA DIII Softball Tournament through automatic qualification:

Updated through end of conference tournaments at 1:05 PM Pacific/4:05 PM Eastern

Atlantic Region:

1.)  Centennial-- Gettysburg
2.)  Coast to Coast-- Salisbury
3.)  Landmark-- Moravian (clinched 5/16/2021)
4.)  ODAC-- Virginia Wesleyan (clinched 5/9/2021 at approx 5:17 PM Eastern)
5.)  Southern Athletic Association-- Birmingham-Southern
6.)  USA South-- Piedmont (clinched 5/9/2021 at approx 3:06 PM Eastern)

Central Region

1.)  Allegheny Mountain-- Penn State Behrend (clinched May 15)
2.)  Heartland-- Mt. St. Joseph (clinched May 15)
3.)  Michigan IAA-- Calvin (clinched May 15)
4.)  North Coast Athletic Conf-- DePauw (clinched May 14)
5.)  Ohio Athletic Conf-- Ohio Northern (clinched May 16)
6.)  Presidents-- Geneva

East Region

1.)  CUNYAC-- No teams playing this season
2.)  CSAC-- Cedar Crest
3.)  MAC-Commonwealth-- York (PA) (clinched May 15)
4.)  MAC-Freedom-- Stevens (clinched May 15)
5.)  NJAC-- The College of New Jersey (clinched May 14)

Great Lakes Region

1.)  CCIW-- Millikin (clinched May 15)
2.)  Midwest-- Illinois College (clinched May 15)
3.)  Northern Athletics CC-- MSOE (clinched May 15)
4.)  WIAC-- UW-Oshkosh (clinched May 16)

Midwest Region

1.)  American Rivers-- Luther (clinched May 15)
2.)  Minnesota IAC-- St. Thomas (MN) (clinched May 16)
3.)  SLIAC-- Webster
4.)  Upper Midwest-- UW-Superior (clinched May 15)

New England Region

1.)  Commonwealth Coast-- Endicott
2.)  GNAC-- Emmanuel
3.)  Little East-- Eastern Connecticut State (clinched 5/15)
4.)  MASCAC-- Bridgewater State (clinched 5/15)
5.)  NECC-- Eastern Nazarene (Clinched 5/9 approx 3:46 PM Eastern)
6.)  NESCAC-- Tufts
7.)  NEWMAC-- Babson (clinched 5/15)
8.)  North Atlantic-- Husson (clinched 5/15)

Northeast Region

1.)  Empire 8-- Alfred (clinched 5/15)
2.)  Liberty League-- Rochester (clinched 5/15)
3.)  NEAC-- Penn College (clinched 5/15)
4.)  Skyline-- Farmingdale State (clinched 5/16)
5.)  SUNYAC-- SUNY-Geneseo (clinched 5/15)

West Region

1.)  ASC-- East Texas Baptist
2.)  Northwest-- Linfield
3.)  SCIAC-- Redlands (clinched 5/16)
4.)  SCAC-- Texas Lutheran

Selection announcement on ncaa.com Monday, May 17 at 1 PM Eastern.

[WLCALUM83]

Now the "on the bubble" squads have a 20-hr or so wait to see who gets the Pool C bids and continues to pursue "Running Down A Dream" (as Tom Petty would put it.)

[deiscanton]

Now the "on the bubble" squads have a 20-hr or so wait to see who gets the Pool C bids and continues to pursue "Running Down A Dream" (as Tom Petty would put it.)

Unfortunately, due to the fact that the major 2 day Jewish festival of Shavuot starts tonight, and tonight is decidated to religious study in preparation for the anniversary of the moment at Sinai when the Torah and the Ten Commandments were revealed (I am not one who stays up overnight doing Torah study, but a lot of Jewish people will be staying up all night tonight)-- I will not be able to do a detailed Pool C bracketology.

Just keep in mind that only 1 Pool B and 6 Pool C picks will be given out this year due to the DIII Championships Committee's decision earlier this year to reduce all field sizes for DIII Championships conducted in the 2020-2021 academic year by approx 25% in response to financial pressures caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

As for the Emory situation, please review Emory on the assumption that the Eagles have applied to the Championships Committee for a waiver of the minimum 12 game requirement to be considered and picked for a selection.  In the case of Emory, the Eagles would have played 12 games but for the situation involving the accident and injury of a Birmingham Southern player during the doubleheader in Atlanta on May 1 that halted the doubleheader and required Birmingham Southern to forfeit the first game.  Birmingham Southern has not been able to play games since then, and I would not be surprised if the SAA subsitutes Berry (GA) tomorrow or Tuesday as their backup AQ.

Just for the record--here are the resumes of the Pool B regionally ranked candidates, on the assumption that a waiver application has been filed for Emory:

Brandeis (#2 in New England)

Record: 13-1-0 (Winning percentage of .929)

SOS-- .611

Current results vs RRO: 5-1-0  (Framingham State and Tufts)  (JWU-Providence is not ranked in week 3)

Current results vs D3 teams with >.750 winning pct: 5-1-0 (Framingham State and Tufts)

Emory (#7 in Atlantic)

Record: 9-2-0 (Winning percentage of .818)

SOS-- .598

Current results vs RRO: 1-0-0 (Forfeit win vs Birmingham Southern)

Current results vs D3 Teams with a >.750 winning pct: 1-0-0 (Forfeit win vs Birmingham Southern)

Secondary criteria

Emory is 5-1-0 vs D3 Teams with a winning pct between .501 and .750 (Piedmont and Berry)

Wesley (#7 in East)

Record: 24-5-0 (.828-- Atlantic East Champion)

SOS-- .554

Results vs RRO:-- 0-4-0 (TCNJ, Salisbury, Lynchburg)

Results vs D3 Teams with a winning pct above .750: 0-3-0 (TCNJ, Salisbury)

Carnegie Mellon (#9 in Central)

Record: 15-6-1 (winning pct of .705)

SOS-- .574

Results vs RRO: 0-2-0 (Geneva) (Penn State-Behrend not ranked in Week 3)

Results vs D3 Teams with a winning percentage above .750 (2-4-0) (Geneva, Penn State-Behrend)

My prediction for Pool B pick:  Brandeis 

[deiscanton]

Where do you find the strength of schedule criteria?

The data sheets for each region with the SOS's provided are provided as PDF files with each region in the NCAA DIII Regional rankings at the bottom.

Strength of schedule is computed as 2/3 Opponents Winning pct + 1/3 Opponents's OWP

You can find the regional rankings at:

ncaa.com/rankings/softball/d3/regional-rankings 

The PDF files for each region are located at the bottom of the page.

[WLCALUM83]

Pool C Possible Atlantic candidates: *

Squad                  Record               SOS             Record vs. RRO             W/L in div rivals > .750

#4 E&H             26-7 (.788)            0.565               6-7 (.462)                      1-3 (.250)
#5 CNU            28-12 (.700)           0.601               8-10 (.444)                    4-10 (.444)
#9 Lynchburg    29-18 (.617)          0.589               8-14 (.364)                    5-11 (.313)


Possible Central Candidates:

#3 Trine          30-8 (.789)            0.544               2-2  (.500)                    3-3  (.500)
#5 TU               26-8 (.765)           0.543               3-6  (.333)                    2-5  (.286)
Hiram (NCAC)    23-14 (.622)           0.533               3-3  (.500)                     N/A   
Alma                 22-13 (.629)           0.533               1-4  (.200)                     5-5  (.500)
Hope                 25-11 (.694)           0.532               2-2  (.500)                     3-5  (.375)
Mt. Union          32-6   (.842)        0.516               2-2  (.500)                     3-5  (.375)
Muskingum        27-12 (.692)            0.529               3-5  (.375)                     3-5  (.375)

Possible East Candidate: (deiscanton covered the rest of this region)

#2 Rowan      27-5   (.844)            0.538                1-4  (.200)                       3-3  (.500)

Possible Great Lakes Candidates

#1 Whitewater 26-8    (.765)           0.546                 8-6  (.571)                      0-2   (.000)
#2 Concordia-WI  31-8    (.795)           0.529                 3-3  (.500)                      5-4   (.556)
#6 Aurora            35-7    (.833)           0.495                 1-1  (.500)                      1-1   (.500)
#8 IL Wesleyan    26-14  (.650)            0.553                 2-6  (.250)                      0-4   (.000)

Possible Midwest Candidates:

#2 St. Benedict    26-6     (.813)           0.521                 4-2  (.667)                       1-3   (.250)
#3 Wartburg    26-8     (.765)           0.550                 7-4  (.636)                       3-1   (.750)
#8 Bethel-MN       26-8     (.765)           0.506                 5-7  (.417)                       2-2   (.500)
St. Olaf                22-4     (.846)           0.556                 4-4  (.500)                       4-2   (.667)[/b]
St. Scholastica      32-6     (.842)           0.450                 2-2  (.500)                       1-1   (.500)

Possible West Candidates:

#3 Belhaven       27-10    (.730)          0.548                  6-4   (.600)                      6-3    (.667)
#5 George Fox        25-8       (.758)         0.513                  2-3    (.400)                     2-3    (.400)
   
A good share of these records come from squads that were runner's up in their respective conference tournaments, just for comparison.

*My projected Pool C picks are in bold-if I have more than 6, it gives an idea of just how close to call these selections appear to be.
** 5/17/21  9:33 am CST removed Coe from Candidates' list after being informed of the ARC news from deiscanton.
Observations:  I'm guessing that Belhaven, ETBU, TX Lutheran and the SAA entrant may be put in a bracket with Linfield and George Fox.  Midwest  (between Wartburg, St. Olaf, St. Benedict and Bethel, MN) and Central (Transylvania and Mt. Union) are too close to call-IMHO. Aurora has a strong in-conference record, as does St. Scholastica, but both squads don't have that strong an SOS.     
                                         

[justafan12]

While Luther won the ARC conference tournament, according top their website Coe gets the automatic birth.

The Coe College softball team secured the American Rivers Conference regular-season championship for the first time since 2018 on Saturday afternoon with a 6-4 victory over #15 Wartburg. The title is the sixth in Coe's history and earns the Kohawks the league's Automatic Qualifier (AQ) to the NCAA DIII Softball Championships.

[deiscanton]

While Luther won the ARC conference tournament, according top their website Coe gets the automatic birth.

The Coe College softball team secured the American Rivers Conference regular-season championship for the first time since 2018 on Saturday afternoon with a 6-4 victory over #15 Wartburg. The title is the sixth in Coe's history and earns the Kohawks the league's Automatic Qualifier (AQ) to the NCAA DIII Softball Championships.

Not surprising here that WLCALUM83 did not read the fine print that this year's 2021 American Rivers Conference softball tournament had no bearing on the AQ.

I just checked the front page for the ARC softball tournament, and the American Rivers Conference did state prior to the tournament that the ARC's AQ would go to the regular season champion for this year only.

I am changing the AQ assignment to reflect the discovery.

We will formally find out with the selection announcement this afternoon about who is coming in as a backup AQ as of this moment.

[deiscanton]

Teams already in the 2021 NCAA DIII Softball Tournament through automatic qualification:

Updated through end of conference tournaments at 1:05 PM Pacific/4:05 PM Eastern

Further update-- I have changed the AQ for ARC to reflect the discovery that the American Rivers Conference decided to award the AQ to the regular season champion before the conference tournament started, and had so stated this fact prior to the start of the conference tournament.

Atlantic Region:

1.)  Centennial-- Gettysburg (Centennial awarded the AQ to the regular season champion.)
2.)  Coast to Coast-- Salisbury
3.)  Landmark-- Moravian (clinched 5/16/2021)
4.)  ODAC-- Virginia Wesleyan (clinched 5/9/2021 at approx 5:17 PM Eastern)
5.)  Southern Athletic Association-- Birmingham-Southern
6.)  USA South-- Piedmont (clinched 5/9/2021 at approx 3:06 PM Eastern)

Central Region

1.)  Allegheny Mountain-- Penn State Behrend (clinched May 15)
2.)  Heartland-- Mt. St. Joseph (clinched May 15)
3.)  Michigan IAA-- Calvin (clinched May 15)
4.)  North Coast Athletic Conf-- DePauw (clinched May 14)
5.)  Ohio Athletic Conf-- Ohio Northern (clinched May 16)
6.)  Presidents-- Geneva

East Region

1.)  CUNYAC-- No teams playing this season
2.)  CSAC-- Cedar Crest
3.)  MAC-Commonwealth-- York (PA) (clinched May 15)
4.)  MAC-Freedom-- Stevens (clinched May 15)
5.)  NJAC-- The College of New Jersey (clinched May 14)

Great Lakes Region

1.)  CCIW-- Millikin (clinched May 15)
2.)  Midwest-- Illinois College (clinched May 15)
3.)  Northern Athletics CC-- MSOE (clinched May 15)
4.)  WIAC-- UW-Oshkosh (clinched May 16)

Midwest Region

1.)  American Rivers-- Coe (Clinched May 8-- ARC awarded the AQ to the regular season champion-- only in effect for 2021.)
2.)  Minnesota IAC-- St. Thomas (MN) (clinched May 16)
3.)  SLIAC-- Webster
4.)  Upper Midwest-- UW-Superior (clinched May 15)

New England Region

1.)  Commonwealth Coast-- Endicott
2.)  GNAC-- Emmanuel
3.)  Little East-- Eastern Connecticut State (clinched 5/15)
4.)  MASCAC-- Bridgewater State (clinched 5/15)
5.)  NECC-- Eastern Nazarene (Clinched 5/9 approx 3:46 PM Eastern)
6.)  NESCAC-- Tufts
7.)  NEWMAC-- Babson (clinched 5/15)
8.)  North Atlantic-- Husson (clinched 5/15)

Northeast Region

1.)  Empire 8-- Alfred (clinched 5/15)
2.)  Liberty League-- Rochester (clinched 5/15)
3.)  NEAC-- Penn College (clinched 5/15)
4.)  Skyline-- Farmingdale State (clinched 5/16)
5.)  SUNYAC-- SUNY-Geneseo (clinched 5/15)

West Region

1.)  ASC-- East Texas Baptist
2.)  Northwest-- Linfield
3.)  SCIAC-- Redlands (clinched 5/16)
4.)  SCAC-- Texas Lutheran

Selection announcement on ncaa.com Monday, May 17 at 1 PM Eastern.

[justafan12]

Here are my Pool C picks:

Emory & Henry - 26-7 record with a strong SOS
Trine - 30-8 my last one in. 
WW - 26-8 8-6 ROR
St. Olaf - 24-6 strong SOS with winning record against + .750 teams
SJF - 25-3 strong SOS and 6-2 vs. ROR and +.750 teams
Belhaven - 27-10 6-4 vs. ROR and 6-3 vs. +.750

With that I still think George Fox has an outside chance of getting in if the NCAA does not want to put BSU in with the West teams.  I have followed D3 softball for 10+ years now and I know the NCAA does not like to pay travel money for D3 so I believe that will have an effect on who gets in and who does not.

[WLCALUM83]

justafan-those picks make sense. I gave you +k for catching my earlier error on ARC.

[deiscanton]

Here are my Pool C picks:

Emory & Henry - 26-7 record with a strong SOS
Trine - 30-8 my last one in. 
WW - 26-8 8-6 ROR
St. Olaf - 24-6 strong SOS with winning record against + .750 teams
SJF - 25-3 strong SOS and 6-2 vs. ROR and +.750 teams
Belhaven - 27-10 6-4 vs. ROR and 6-3 vs. +.750

With that I still think George Fox has an outside chance of getting in if the NCAA does not want to put BSU in with the West teams.  I have followed D3 softball for 10+ years now and I know the NCAA does not like to pay travel money for D3 so I believe that will have an effect on who gets in and who does not.

Those are not bad choices-- especially given this year's NCAA COVID-19 policy of having all spring DIII regionals being held at predetermined sites.   We do know that Redlands and Linfield are at least 2 teams that could be flying to the ETBU Regional in Texas.

I am sure that with 6 Pool C picks and this year of having to deal with limited data to make the selections, this year of having to choose the at-large picks is probably one of the most difficult ones in a while.

Hopefully we go back to a more normal field next year.

justafan-- I am also giving you a +k for noticing the ARC tournament policy.  Just because American Rivers Conference is not in my part of the country does not completely absolve me from blame in not catching their AQ policy for this year sooner.

[justafan12]

Thanks for the +k guys; given that there are 41 AQ and you missed only 1 I will return the +k.  You guys have been amazing at the amount of info that you have supplied here. 

So the 8 regional sites are already determined, I missed that.  Not sure why ETBU gets the regional over TLU to host.  Never been to Seguin but I know Marshall is a dump; most teams that travel to play ETBU stay in Longview 20 miles away.  Both locations now have turf so that's not it.  Airport distance is about the same although San Antonio airport is bigger than Shreveport.  I am sure the ETBU being on all the committees helps.