D 3 softball

[Ralph Turner]

Regional sites (for archival purposes)

http://www.ncaa.com/sports/w-softbl/spec-rel/051010aae.html

SITES:
*Indicates host institution
Regional at Greencastle, Indiana (*DePauw University)
BRACKET
1.  Ohio Northern  (37-5)
2.  DePauw  (35-6)
3.  Washington U. in St. Louis  (34-9)
4.  North Central (Illinois)  (31-12)
5.  Trine  (26-13)
6.  Transylvania  (34-9)
7.  Denison  (30-15)
8.  Thomas More  (22-18)

Regional at Indianola, Iowa (*Simpson College)
BRACKET
1.  Linfield  (35-5)
2.  Illinois Wesleyan  (30-14)
3.  Simpson  (31-10)
4.  Claremont-Mudd-Scripps  (33-8)
5.  Central (Iowa)  (30-12)
6.  St. Thomas (Minnesota)  (37-6)
7.  Fontbonne  (24-15)
8.  Chicago  (24-13-1)

Regional at Ithaca, New York (*Ithaca College)
BRACKET
1.  Cortland St.  (38-6)
2.  Ithaca  (30-13)
3.  Lebanon Valley  (31-11)
4.  Alfred  (34-6)
5.  King's (Pennsylvania)  (22-16)
6.  Polytechnic Institute of NYU  (31-9)
7.  Dickinson  (19-17)
8.  Keuka  (23-8)

Regional at Newport News, Virginia (*Christopher Newport University)
BRACKET
1.  Salisbury  (33-2)
2.  Christopher Newport  (36-8)
3.  Susquehanna  (32-11)
4.  Messiah  (35-7)
5.  Greensboro  (27-13-1)
6.  Frostburg St.  (28-14)
7.  Piedmont  (29-10)
8.  Eastern Mennonite  (19-16)

Regional at Pineville, Louisiana (*Louisiana College)
BRACKET
1.  Louisiana College  (41-6)
2.  Texas-Tyler  (37-7)
3.  Mississippi College  (29-11)
4.  East Texas Baptist  (31-11)
5.  Southwestern (Texas)  (31-11)
6.  La Verne  (27-18)

Regional at Providence, Rhode Island (*Rhode Island College)
BRACKET
1.  College of New Jersey  (31-8)
2.  Moravian  (30-12)
3.  Kean  (29-15)
4.  Wesleyan (Connecticut)  (23-16-1)
5.  Neumann  (26-16)
6.  Baruch  (23-20)

Regional at Wellesley, Massachusetts (*Wellesley College)
BRACKET
1.  Eastern Connecticut State  (32-4-1)
2.  Brandeis  (27-7-1)
3.  Coast Guard  (30-8)
4.  Bowdoin  (33-12)
5.  Rivier  (32-4)
6.  Salem State  (33-8-1)
7.  Endicott  (28-10-1)
8.  Husson  (28-13)

Regional at Whitewater, Wisconsin (*University of Wisconsin, Whitewater
BRACKET
1.  Luther  (37-5)
2.  Wisconsin-La Crosse  (36-7)
3.  Redlands  (32-12)
4.  Carthage  (24-13)
5.  Alma  (30-9)
6.  Augustana (Illinois)  (30-13)
7.  Aurora  (35-7)
8.  St. Norbert  (30-6)

[Ralph Turner]

Pool A bids...



NCAA RELEASE 

http://www.ncaa.com/sports/w-softbl/spec-rel/051010aae.html

INDIANAPOLIS---The NCAA Division III Softball Committee has announced the 60 teams that will compete in the Division III Softball Championship.

Six teams will compete at two regional sites and eight teams will compete at six regional sites for a total of eight regional sites. All sites will use a double-elimination format.

The six-team regional rounds will be held May 14-17 on the campuses of competing institutions. The eight-team regional rounds will be held May 13-17 on the campuses of competing institutions. The finals, hosted by the University of Wisconsin, Eau Claire, will be held May 21-25 at Carson Park in Eau Claire, Wisconsin.

Thirty-nine conferences received automatic qualification and three independents were selected for the 2010 championship. The 18 remaining teams were selected on an at-large basis from automatic qualifying conferences and the remaining independent institutions.

The conferences and teams that received automatic qualification were:
Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference - Frostburg State University
American Southwest Conference - Louisiana College
Capital Athletic Conference - Salisbury University
Centennial Conference - Dickinson College
City University of New York Athletic Conference - Baruch College
College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin - Illinois Wesleyan University
Colonial States Athletic Conference - Neumann University
Commonwealth Coast Conference - Endicott College
Commonwealth Conference - Messiah College
Empire 8 - Ithaca College

Freedom Conference - King's College (Pennsylvania)
Great Northeast Athletic Conference - Rivier College
Great South Athletic Conference - Piedmont College
Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference - Transylvania University
Iowa Intercollegiate Athletic Conference - Luther College
Landmark Conference - Moravian College
Little East Conference - Eastern Connecticut University
Massachusetts State College Athletic Conference - Salem State College
Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association - Trine University
Midwest Conference - St. Norbert College
Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference - University of St. Thomas (Minnesota)
New England Small College Athletic Conference - Wesleyan University (Connecticut)
New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference - U.S. Coast Guard Academy
New Jersey Athletic Conference - Kean University
North Atlantic Conference - Husson University
North Coast Athletic Conference - Denison University
North Eastern Athletic Conference - Keuka College
Northern Athletics Conference - Aurora University
Northwest Conference - Linfield College
Ohio Athletic Conference - Ohio Northern University
Old Dominion Athletic Conference - Eastern Mennonite University
Presidents' Athletic Conference - Thomas More College
Skyline Conference - Polytechnic Institute of New York University
Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference - University of La Verne
Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference - Southwestern University (Texas)
St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference - Fontbonne University
State University of New York Athletic Conference - State University of New York at Cortland
USA South Athletic Conference - Greensboro College
Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference - University of Wisconsin, La Crosse

[Gray Fox]

Congratulations to the SCIAC  for getting three teams invited.

[Ralph Turner]

Pool B teams selected by the NCAA--
UAA
1.)  Washington University
2.)  Brandeis
3.)  Chicago

Pool C teams selected by the NCAA--  (Pool C's are as announced in order when the NCAA revealed the brackets.)

CCIW
1.)  North Central (IL)
16.)  Carthage
18.)  Augustana (IL)

2.)  DePauw

IIAC
3.)  Central  (IA)
5.)  Simpson

6.)  Alfred
7.)  Lebanon Valley
8.)  Susquehanna
9.)  Christopher Newport
10.)  TCNJ

ASC
11.)  Texas-Tyler
12.)  Mississippi College
13.)  East Texas Baptist

14.)  Bowdoin
15.)  Alma



SCIAC
4.)  Claremont Mudd Scripps
17.)  Redlands

Twelve of the 39 Pool A Conferences received Pool C bids including 4 conferences with multiple Pool C bids.

The UAA locked up all three of the Pool B bids.

That is an amazing concentration of talent in a few conferences.

(No ASC-West team received a Pool C bid.)

[D O.C.]

Thanks a bunch Ralph.

GOOOOOOOOOOOOOO WILDCATS

[deiscanton]

I have finally found the Ohio Athletic Conference Softball Code of Conduct on their web page:

http://www.oac.org/documents/SOFTBALL.pdf

Despite losing to John Carroll in the finals of the OAC softball tournament, thereby being eliminated from the tourney and giving John Carroll the OAC tournament title,  Ohio Northern was declared the OAC's automatic qualifier under the provisions of section 8(a) of the OAC Softball Code of Conduct, which reads as follows:

Section 8(a)-- "If the OAC tournament is played in its entirety, the OAC regular-season champion (or a co-champion) shall be the automatic qualifier if it reaches the final game of the tournament."

Section 8(c) of the OAC Softball Code of Conduct reads as follows:

Section 8(c)--  "If the OAC tournament is played in its entirety, and the regular season champion (or co-champion) is/are eliminated before the finals, the winner of the tournament shall be declared the automatic qualifier."

I do not know any other Division III conference in any other sport that protects their regular season champion in such a manner if they conduct a conference tournament to determine their Pool A automatic qualifier.  (Yes, the University Athletic Association does give their Pool A automatic qualifier bid in basketball to the regular season champion, but the UAA does not have a basketball conference tournament.)   The Ohio Athletic Conference deprived themselves of having 2 teams in the NCAA softball tournament, and because these rules were not printed in the official tournament program, fans at the tourney (and fans across the nation, such as myself) were easily misled by the OAC into believing that the tournament winner would be the automatic qualifier-- just as it is in every other conference that has a conference tournament to determine automatic qualification.  I strongly advise the OAC to change this rule to eliminate this (in my opinion) egregious policy.

I also note that this is not a commentary on how an automatic qualifier should be determined in softball if the conference tournament cannot be completed due to rain or other inclement weather, but only a commentary about if a tournament is played to completion.

[whm_54]

Are you upset because John Carroll isn't going or because you were wrong?
Let me pass along some advice that was given to me when I questioned why Jessica rhoads wasn't selected to the NFCA All America team last year despite being the most dominant pitcher in D3.
Get over it.

[deiscanton]

Are you upset because John Carroll isn't going or because you were wrong?
Let me pass along some advice that was given to me when I questioned why Jessica rhoads wasn't selected to the NFCA All America team last year despite being the most dominant pitcher in D3.
Get over it.

I am upset for both of those reasons-- I would not be as upset that John Carroll was not going to go to the NCAAs, however, if the OAC had disclosed the automatic qualifying rules from their conference handbook up front in the tournament program so that everyone reading it would know how to follow the conference tournament going in to it.

I will get over it-- as a matter of fact, I was anticipating that my post this morning was going to be my last word on the subject before you made the comment, but I had to reply to your statement.  

But I can pass along my reasons as to why I was initially misled into misreporting the automatic qualifier from the OAC  (for which I do apologize-- even though I could not be expected to know this rule in advance):

The OAC can decide however they see fit who gets their automatic bid to the NCAAs.  However--the OAC was conducting a conference tournament that was supposedly going to decide who got the automatic bid, and members of the general public are not going to be expected to look up their conference softball rules handbook in advance and be instantly informed about the process going in.   I would not be as upset about the OAC policy for misleading fans if the process rules were written up front in the tournament program  (They are different from the norm).

The OAC tournament program for the 2010 softball tournament could mislead fans into believing that the tournament winner would go to the NCAAs-- the bracket on the program is drawn like a conventional bracket:

http://www-new.onu.edu/system/files/OACSBProgram10.pdf

The score results did not indicate or report that the OAC tournament winner was not going to be the automatic qualifier even though the tournament was completed: (thereby leading an average fan who is not familiar with the OAC rules to report the AQ just like any other league tournament)

http://www-new.onu.edu/athletics/womens_teams/softball/2010_oac_tournament

Even the live blog on the OAC tournament didn't state that even though John Carroll won the OAC tourney, Ohio Northern still got the automatic bid to the NCAAs:

http://www-new.onu.edu/athletics/womens_teams/softball/2010_oac_tournament/live_blog

Therefore, if the OAC is going to keep the rule in the future, I would suggest full disclosure in future tournament programs on the OAC automatic qualifying process, so that no one in the future would be misled and everyone nationally would know the rules up front-- even if they are different from other conferences.

And with that comment,  that is my final word on the subject-- let's go on to the NCAAs.

[deiscanton]

My take on the Wellesley, MA regional:

(1)   Eastern Connecticut is the favorite to win the regional because of (two words):  Molly Rathbun

Eastern Connecticut has some great players backing Rathbun up as well, both defensively and offensively--

Eastern Connecticut's fielding pct of .975 is second best in DIII.

Molly Rathbun will be the key to Eastern Connecticut getting out of the regional.

Rathbun's ERA is 0.72 going in to the tourney-- second best in DIII

Rathbun has struck out 240 batters so far on the season-- 10.8 batters per game

Rathbun has a .434 batting average, and has hit 9 home runs on the season as well.

Main challengers to Eastern Connecticut:   Brandeis and Coast Guard  (Rathbun and Eastern Connecticut have already defeated these challengers in the regular season, as well as having defeated Bowdoin).

(2)  Brandeis 

Brandeis has at least 4 great batters in Brittany Grimm (.432 BA), Marianne Specker (.412 BA), Stacy Berg (.388 BA), and Chelsea Korp (.380 BA)

Melissa Cagar is also good not only at getting on base, but on stealing bases as well.

Brandeis's #1 pitcher is Emily Vaillette-- her 1.49 ERA is a Brandeis record, and she has struck out 93 batters on the season.

UAA Coach of the Year Jessica Johnson coaches the Judges.

(3)  Coast Guard

Big bat for Coast Guard is Amanda Frederick-- .464 Batting average

Coast Guard's pitcher, Hayley Feindel, has a 0.96 ERA and has struck out 331 batters on the season.

I look forward to checking out Feindel in action in Thursday's 2 PM game before the Judges battle Endicott--

The potential Brandeis vs Coast Guard match on Friday  (assuming that both teams win tomorrow) should be very interesting if that game takes place-- This Friday game could very well determine the championship opponent for Eastern Connecticut in the Sunday title round.

Players from other teams before the Brandeis vs Endicott game at 4 PM on Thursday that I want to see:

How will pitcher Monica White  and batter Taylor Cournoyer of Rivier go up against Bowdoin in the second game of the day?   Rivier vs Bowdoin could be an interesting match, although I don't expect the winner of that game to defeat Eastern Connecticut in the Friday 2 PM matchup.  (I don't foresee Eastern Connecticut having too much difficulty with Husson).

First opponent for Brandeis tomorrow is Endicott

Endicott is no pushover team--  this is the 8th straight NCAA softball tournament appearance for the Gulls, and the Gulls usually win a game or two in the regional every year before bowing out.

Endicott has a win over then top 25 ranked Illinois Wesleyan from March's Rebel Games in Florida.  Endicott has also lost to NCAA tournament team Fontbonne in Florida-- also in the Rebel Games.

Endicott has a 19 game unbeaten streak going into the NCAAs-- however, none of the wins in the 18-0-1 streak came against a regionally ranked opponent.  (Only non TCCC opponent for Endicott in those 19 games was Wheaton (MA)).

Pitcher Jenna Bortolotti of Endicott has a 1.48 ERA, while Merry McDonald is the top Endicott batter with a .402 batting average.

[WLCALUM83]

DePauw Regional Day 1:

Ohio Northern's Cash and DePauw's Soultz hurl complete game victories.

Other than #6 Transy knocking off Wash-MO, the higher seeds won today.

[deiscanton]

Wellesley Regional Day 1

All games were won in shutout fashion.

The opening and closing games of the day were decided in 5 innings due to the 8 run rule, wth the winners both winning by 8-0 scores.

Other than 5th seeded Rivier knocking out 4th seeded Bowdoin, 1-0, all of the higher seeds won their opening games.

Molly Rathbun of Eastern Connecticut had a 3 hitter and struck out 10 batters.

Coast Guard's Hayley Feindel pitched a no-hitter (5th of season, 6th of career) against Salem State and struck out 11 batters.

Brandeis's Chelsea Korp scored the 8th run of the game to end the game against Endicott off of a Brittany Grimm squeeze bunt.

In Day 2, in the winner's bracket--  Eastern Conn St v Rivier will start approx 2 PM Eastern, while Brandeis takes on Coast Guard at approx 4 PM Eastern.

Eastern Conn St v Rivier may turn out to be a pitcher's duel between Eastern Conn's Molly Rathbun and Rivier's Monica White, and I will be interested in seeing how the Brandeis batters deal with the rise ball of Coast Guard's Hayley Feindel.

[AUPepBand]

Pep wants to go on record....as appreciating the fact that Ithaca College is hosting the Northeast Regional Softball Tournament. What a pleasure it is to have webcast coverage and the VIC Radio crew is excellent. It's nice to be at work at Herrick Library and yet being able to follow the Saxons.

On Saxon Warriors!

[oldNorse]

Whitewater Region update  3:30 PM CST
Friday:
Aurora 4   UW-La Crosse 3
St. Norbert 4  Alma 2  , Alma eliminated
UW-La Crosse 4  Redlands 1   Redlands eliminated

Luther vs Carthage about to begin
Augustana vs Aurora to follow

Indianola Region update
Friday:
Chicago 8  Central 2   Central eliminated
Simpson vs Fontbonne  ?  game at 2PM, no results on regional website

[ECSUalum]

2010 NCAA® Division III Softball Championship
WELLESLEY REGIONAL UPDATE

Friday, May 14   
10:00am Game 5: Bowdoin 14, Husson 2     
12:00pm Game 6: Salem State 5, Endicott 3     
2:00pm Game 7: Eastern Conn 2, Rivier 0   
4:00pm Game 8: Brandeis 7, Coast Guard 6   

[deiscanton]

My take on Day 2 of the Wellesley Regional:

Obviously, the NCAA has asked for a crackdown on illegal pitches this season-- the problem is that softball umpires have been inconsistent in calling illegal pitches all season.    Every time a pitcher crow-hops or leaps on the mound and does not keep one foot on the rubber on releasing the pitch, the umpire must call an illegal pitch. (Clarify this for me if I have misinterpreted this rule.)  Some umpires have been following this rule in the regular season-- others haven't.    Apparently, a lot of the New England umpires weren't calling illegal pitches on a consistent basis in the regular season, and now the number of illegal pitch calls have been going up in the NCAA tournament.

Both the Salem State v Endicott game and the Brandeis v Coast Guard game were called by an umpiring crew that strictly enforced the new NCAA "point of emphasis" on illegal pitches and were strictly calling every illegal pitch infraction.   The first 5 Brandeis runs yesterday were scored directly or indirectly by illegal pitch calls on the Coast Guard pitcher while many Coast Guard at bats were extended by illegal pitch calls on the Brandeis pitcher.

It will be interesting to see how this affects the rest of the regional.