On Tuesday afternoon, the 48 teams and locations were revealed for the NAIA Softball Opening Round. Cottey College ended up as the #4 seed in the San Antonio Bracket in Texas. The Comets feature 4 players from Texas on the squad.
The Comets will take on the hosts, and #1 Seeded Our Lady of The Lake University, in their first matchup of the tournament. The other half of the bracket features a familiar face in Evangel University, as well as Hope International University from Fullerton, California.
Our Lady of The Lake were selected as the hosts of the tournament, which will be held at St. Mary's University Softball Field, a few miles from their campus. The Saints are 50-3 on the year, garnering the #1 rank in the country as of the final coaches poll. They were the Regular Season Champions of their Conference. The Comets do have a common opponent wiith OLLU this season in LSU-Alexandria. Cottey had big leads in each game but were 0-2 against LSU-A this season, while OLLU split 2-2 with LSU-A. Both teams beat Texas A&M Texarkana this year, while the Saints beat Houston-Victoria and the Comets lost a nail-biter. The Comets and Saints will face off at 2:30pm on Monday May 13th. Fans can watch the game on livestream free at https://www.ollusaintsathletics.com/links/iq1mtv ; Or for fans going to San Antonio, Admission is $10 per day, with Cash and Credit Card being accepted day of at the gate.
Due to the double elimination tournament, the Comets will also see the other teams in their bracket. Depending on the results of each prior game, it will be either Hope International University, or Evangel University.
Hope International University is in Fullerton, CA, and sport a 35-15 record on the year. The #23 ranked Royals finished as their Conference's Runner Up, punching their ticket. This tournament will represent their first games outside of the California or Arizona this year, although they did split with Missouri-based Avila University at home this season. They will take on Evangel University in the opening game at Noon on May 13th.
Evangel University is the #3 seed in the region, and a familiar foe for the Comets. The Valor are 36-8 on the year, and won the KCAC Tournament to earn their spot in this Opening Round. The Comets and the Valor did match up this year, with the Comets taking both games on home turf to go 2-0 against Evangel. The Valor take on Hope International in the first game at Noon on May 13th.
The Losers of each of the opening games will face off on Tuesday May 14th at Noon, while the Winners will follow at 2:30pm.
The San Antonio region is one of only two brackets to feature four teams. The remaining brackets all feature five teams. The Champions of each Opening Round site will progress to the NAIA World Series, to be held at the South Commons Complex in Columbus, GA on May 23rd-29th.
