Linfield heading back to eastern Texas

May 04, 2009

Northwest Conference champion Linfield is headed to Marshall, Texas, for the NCAA Division III West Regional playoff tournament starting Thursday.

The top-ranked Wildcats, 36-4 this season, earned the seven-team regional’s top seed. The team is expected to depart Tuesday for eastern Texas to compete in the seven-team NCAA Division III West Regional, hosted by East Texas Baptist University.

The NCAA selection committee announced the 59-team Division III playoff field Monday morning.

Also receiving bids to the regional tournament are American Southwest Conference tournament champion Texas-Tyler (34-8) along with ASC members East Texas Baptist (37-9) and Louisiana College (36-7). Three schools from the Southern California Athletic Conference qualified for the regional, including regular-season and tournament champion Redlands (30-10) as well as Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (28-14) and La Verne (28-15).

Fresh from winning its sixth straight NWC title, Linfield earned the No. 1 seed in the West Regional. The Wildcats received the first-round bye and will face the loser of Thursday’s early game between Texas Tyler and Redlands. Game times will be announced later by the host school.

No. 3 seed East Texas Baptist meets sixth-seeded Claremont-Mudd-Scripps and seventh-seeded La Verne opposes No. 2 seed Louisiana College in Thursday’s other opening-round matchups.

Linfield earned the berth to the regional tournament as the automatic qualifier from the NWC. The Wildcats won the conference by four games over runner-up Willamette.

The West Regional features five Top 25 teams. In the most recent National Fastpitch Coaches Association poll. Linfield is ranked No. 1, East Texas Baptist shares the No. 2 poll position, followed by No. 11 Louisiana College, 14th-ranked Texas-Tyler and 25th-rated Redlands. Four of the regional entries - Linfield, ETBU, Louisiana College and UT Tyler - have spent time as the top-rated team this season.

Thirty-five conferences have been granted automatic qualification and six independents were selected for the 2009 championship. The 18 remaining teams were selected on an at-large basis from automatic qualifying conferences and the remaining independent institutions.

Eight double-elimination tournaments are scheduled to begin Thursday on campus sites. Seven teams will compete at five first-round sites and eight teams will compete at three first-round sites. All first-round sites will use a double-elimination format.

First-round games Thursday are tentatively scheduled for 10 a.m., noon, 2 and 4 p.m. Game times remain the same as the tournament continues Friday and Saturday. The championship game is scheduled for Sunday at noon, and possibly 2 p.m., if the loser of that game suffers its first defeat.

The eight-team Division III championship finals, hosted by the Montclair State University, will be held May 15-19 at the Montclair State Softball Stadium in Montclair, N.J.

Linfield Wildcats
Earn top seed and first-round bye