Summit League Softball Championship Field Set
May 8, 2016 | Softball
ELMHURST, Ill. – The field has been set for next week's 2016 Summit League Softball Championship, the league office announced Saturday night. Six teams begin play at the championship tournament Wednesday, May 11, and the league's champion and automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament will be decided Saturday, May 14 at the Ellig Sports Complex in Fargo, N.D.
Omaha (29-27, 12-5), appearing in its first-ever league tournament, clinched the No. 2 seed. UNO led The Summit League in runs scored (351) and runs per game (6.27), setting a single-season league record with 326 RBI. As one of the top two seeds, the Mavs earned a first-round bye and will begin play Thursday, May 12.
North Dakota State (35-13, 17-0 Summit League) will enter The Summit League Softball Championship as the regular-season champion and No. 1 seed. NDSU enters the tournament having won its last 27 regular-season contests against league opponents, dating back to 2015.
The tournament will begin Wednesday with No. 4 South Dakota (14-36, 8-9) and No. 5 South Dakota State (23-33, 8-10) meeting at 3 p.m. CT. Game two of the tournament will feature third-seeded Western Illinois (16-31, 9-8) and sixth-seeded IUPUI (17-32, 4-12) at 5:30 p.m.
Wednesday's first-round games will be single elimination, with the winners moving on to play the top two seeds Thursday. Double elimination play will begin Thursday and conclude Saturday with the crowning of the 2016 Summit League Tournament champions.
Softball Championship Schedule
Wednesday, May 11
Game 1: (4) South Dakota vs. (5) South Dakota State – 3 p.m.
Game 2: (3) Western Illinois vs. (6) IUPUI – 5:30 p.m.
Thursday, May 12
Game 3: (1) North Dakota State vs. Game 1 Winner – Noon
Game 4: (2) Omaha vs. Game 2 Winner – 2:30 p.m.
Game 5: Game 3 Loser vs. Game 4 Loser – 5 p.m.
Friday, May 13
Game 6: Game 3 Winner vs. Game 4 Winner – 1 p.m.
Game 7: Game 5 Winner vs. Game 6 Loser – 3:30 p.m.
Saturday, May 14
Game 8: Game 6 Winner vs. Game 7 Winner – 1 p.m.
*Game 9: Game 8 Winner vs. Game 8 Loser – 3:30 p.m.
*If necessary
NOTE: Games 1 & 2 will be single elimination with the remainder of the tournament being double elimination.
For complete coverage of The Summit League Softball Championship, visit the official championship website at thesummitleague.org/championships and follow the championship Twitter feed @summitchamps.
