UNIVERSITY CENTER, Mich. – The Saginaw Valley State University softball team learned the destination and matchup for the 2023 NCAA Division II Softball Tournament during the Selection Show on NCAA.com Monday morning.
The NCAA Division II Softball Committee selected 64 teams to participate in the 2023 NCAA Division II Softball Championship. Four teams will compete in 16 regional sites in double-elimination tournaments that will be held May 11-13. Winners of each regional bracket will advance to the super regionals on May 18-19. The finals will take place May 25-31 at the Frost Stadium at Warner Park in Chattanooga, Tennessee, hosted by Lee University, the University of North Georgia, and the Chattanooga Sports Commission.
The Cardinals (35-14) earned the automatic bid to the tournament with the win against Parkside yesterday in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Tournament Championship Game and will head to Allendale, Michigan, and earned the number-three seed in the Midwest Regional. They will play #6 Ohio Dominican on the first day of the Midwest 2 Region, hosted by Grand Valley State University.
"ODU is a quality team as they have shown this season, winning their conference regular season," said SVSU head softball coach Ryan Schalk. "Anyone we play this time of year is going to be tough. We just want to make sure we execute what we are trying to do and let the rest play itself out."
SVSU has faced all three of the teams appearing in the Midwest 2 Regional. Saginaw Valley State is no stranger to the Panthers as the team faced them in a non-conference doubleheader at the end of March earlier this season. Saginaw Valley fell in both contests at ODU with 2-1 and 8-1 being the final tallies.
The Lakers are the most familiar opponent for the Cardinals, as both teams are members of the GLIAC. The final team in the regional, Missouri-St. Louis was the final opponent for SVSU's spring break trip to Florida in early March. The Cardinals won that meeting, 3-0.
"We've seen everyone in the region at one point or another this season, but this might as well be a whole new season." Stated Schalk. "This time of year, it doesn't matter who did what in the regular season, anything can happen and all we can do is prepare our team as best we can, do our homework on our opponents, and go play good softball in all three phases of the game."
Saginaw Valley State and Ohio Dominican are scheduled for a 2:30 p.m., game time on Thursday, May 11.