Three CCC Teams Qualify for NAIA Softball Championship
KANSAS CITY, Mo. – [
Opening Round Schedule] The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) has officially announced the 40-team field and pairings for the 2021 NAIA Softball National Championship Opening Round. The eighth annual event will take place May 17-19 at ten different locations. The format is double-elimination, four-team tournament.
The 40-team field is comprised of 32 automatic qualifiers and eight at-large berths. The 19 conferences receive one berth per six teams and two berths per 10 teams. The at-large teams were determined by the NAIA Softball National Selection Committee.
Three Cascade Collegiate Conference teams grabbed berths to the tournament. No. 1-ranked Southern Oregon University picked up one of the CCC’s two automatic qualifiers after winning the regular-season conference championship, No. 17-ranked Oregon Tech grabbed the other AQ after winning the CCC Softball Tournament Championship, presented by U.S. Bank, and No. 15-ranked College of Idaho secured an at-large bid.
SOU hosts part of the opening round, taking on St. Katherine first in Ashland, Ore. The Owls will make the trek to Waleska, Ga., to take on Cottey in their first game. The Coyotes are headed to Fayette, Mo., where they will take on Freed-Hardemann for the first game of the tournament.
The champions from each of the 10 opening round tournaments advance to the 40th annual NAIA Softball World Series in Columbus, Ga., from May 27 – June 2. These programs will participate in a double-elimination national championship South Commons Softball Complex.
The World Series bracket will be announced late in the day on May 19 after the completion of the opening rounds on NAIA.org. For more information on the 2021 NAIA Softball National Championship and World Series, click
here.