KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Second-seeded No. 12 Thomas University (34-18) will face third seed University of Houston-Victoria (Texas) on Monday, May 14 in the 2018 NAIA Softball National Championship Opening Round, the national office announced Tuesday via Facebook.
 
The first pitch will be at 11 a.m. CST in Gulf Shores, Ala., at the Gulf Shores Sportsplex. Live video steaming and live stats will be available here.  
 
The top seed in the Gulf Shores bracket is Mobile (Ala.), which finished the season ranked ninth in the nation with a 42-13 record. Houston-Victoria (30-16) was receiving votes in the NAIA Softball Coaches Top 25 Poll that was released today, and Brenau of Georgia (28-20), the fourth seed, is unranked.
 
The schedule for the Gulf Shores bracket is as follows:
Monday, May 14            
Game 1 - 11 a.m. CST - No. 2 Thomas (Ga.) vs. No. 3 Houston-Victoria (Texas)
Game 2 - 1 p.m. CST - No. 1 Mobile (Ala.) vs. No. 4 Brenau (Ga.)
Tuesday, May 15            
Game 3 - 11 a.m. CST - Game 1 Winner vs. Game 2 Winner
Game 4 - 1 p.m. CST - Game 1 Loser vs. Game 2 Loser
Game 5 - 3 p.m. CST - Game 3 Loser vs. Game 4 Winner
Wednesday, May 16      
Game 6 - 11 a.m. CST - Game 3 Winner vs. Game 5 Winner
Game 7 - 1 p.m. CST - If Necessary
 
Thomas won both the Sun Conference Regular Season and Tournament Championships this season. Coach Bill Wilson was TSC Coach of the Year and Lauren West was the Pitcher of the Year. Five Night Hawks were named first team all-conference: Kelsey Connolly, A.J. Weiss, Lauren West, Gaby Mora and Kait Stoltz, while Victoria Camina and Izzy Ekstam were on the honorable mention list. 

Three Night Hawks – Kelsey Connolly, Corryne Diaz and Lauren West - were named to the Sun Conference All-Tournament Team, and Kelsey Connolly, Michael Cooper, Katie Lopes, Gaby Mora and A.J. Weiss were on the all-academic team. 


About the NAIA Tournament
The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) announced the 40-team field and pairings for the 2018 NAIA Softball National Championship Opening Round on Tuesday, May 8. The sixth annual event will take place from May 14 - 16 at nine different locations. The format is a double-elimination, four-team tournament. For more information on the host sites, click here. 

The 40-team field is comprised of 30 automatic qualifiers and 10 at-large berths. The 19 conferences receive one berth per six teams and two berths per ten teams. At-large teams were determined using the final regular-season Coaches' Top 25 Poll released earlier today, which can be accessed here.
 
The champions from each of the 10 opening round tournaments advance to the 38th annual NAIA Softball World Series in Clermont, Fla., from May 25 – 31. These programs will participate in a double-elimination national championship at the Legends Way Ball Fields. Last year, Oklahoma City won its NAIA-record 10th championship – and second in-a-row – after a 4-1 victory over Corban (Ore.) on June 1.
 
The World Series bracket will be announced late in the day on May 16 on NAIA.org. Advanced World Series tickets may be purchased by clicking here.
 
For complete story and list of qualifiers, CLICK HERE