INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – For the first time in over a decade the SCAC will have two softball teams competing in the national championship as regular season champion Texas Lutheran University and tournament champion University of St. Thomas were among the 62 teams selected for the 2023 NCAA Division III Softball Championship. NCAA Release | Interactive Bracket
St. Thomas (32-8) will travel to Belton, Texas to compete in a four-team double elimination pod hosted by University of Mary Hardin-Baylor. This season marked St. Thomas' inaugural year eligible to compete in NCAA Division III tournament play and will be the program's first national post season competition since 2018-19 when the Celts were still a member of NAIA.
St. Thomas will begin this year’s postseason journey with an opening round matchup against host Mary Hardin-Baylor (32-12), who earned a Pool C at-large bid out of the American Southwestern Conference. The two teams split a doubleheader to open the 2023 season back in February. The SCAC is 10-16 all-time versus teams out of the ASC in NCAA Tournament action, but this will mark the first matchup against UMHB. The winner of UST and UMHB will take on the winner of the Berry (36-4) and Rosemont (21-17) in the winner’s bracket semifinal.
The Celts enter the NCAA Tournament having won six-straight contests, including sweeping through the SCAC Tournament to claim the program’s first ever tournament crown.
Texas Lutheran (38-6) will travel to Marshall, Texas to compete in a four-team double elimination pod hosted by East Texas Baptist University. This year marks the ninth-straight NCAA appearance for the Bulldogs, highlighted by the consecutive trips to the College World Series, the 2019 National Championship and runner-up finish at the 2021 Championship.
TLU will open NCAA play against Belhaven (28-11) that earned a Pool C at-large bid after winning the Collegiate Conference of the South (CCS) regular season and tournament championship. It will mark the third-straight NCAA appearance for the Blazers despite having to lean on an at-large bid with the CCS not eligible yet for an AQ bid with the newly formed conference. The winner of the Bulldogs and the Blazers will face the winner of host East Texas Baptist (39-5) and SUNY Geneseo (25-16-1) in the winner’s bracket semifinal.
The Bulldogs enter the NCAA Tournament tied for the fourth most wins in Division III this year.
The regional round will be held May 18-20. Four teams will compete at 15 regional sites and two teams will compete at one regional site. The team advancing from each regional will compete in the super regional round May 26 and 27. The finals, hosted by East Texas Baptist University, will be held June 1-June 7 at Bell Park at Taylor Field in Marshall, Texas. All rounds will use a double-elimination format, and the two-team regional will play a best of five series.
Forty-three 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 18 remaining teams were selected on an at-large basis from automatic qualifying conferences and institutions included in Pool B.
