From Washington University Athletics
For the fourth-straight year and for the 14th time in school history, the Washington University in St. Louis softball team is headed to the NCAA Tournament. The Bears received an at-large bid to the 2016 NCAA Division III Softball Championship, as announced Monday by the NCAA Softball Committee.
The No. 23-ranked Bears will play in the four-team Regional Friday-Sunday, May 13-15, at Illinois Wesleyan University in Bloomington, Ill.
The third-seeded Bears, who finished the regular season with a 34-10 record, takes on No. 2 seed DePauw University (29-16) on Friday 1 p.m. Top-seeded and No. 14-ranked Illinois Wesleyan University (30-10) hosts Hanover College (18-18) in the other first round matchup on Friday at 3:30 p.m. in the double-elimination regional.
WashU owns an all-time postseason record of 24-26 (.486) in 13 previous trips to the NCAA Tournament. The Bears won the school's lone Regional Championship in 2007, and advanced to the College World Series before falling in the national championship game.
DePauw gained an at-large bid after falling to Wittenberg University, 12-3, in the North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) championship game. The Tigers are making their third-straight and eighth overall NCAA appearance with a 29-17 (.630) record. DePauw has defeated WashU in both all-time NCAA Tournament meetings (2008, 2015).
WashU posted a 6-4 win in nine-innings on April 9 in the lone meeting of the season. DePauw leads the all-time series 9-6.
Illinois Wesleyan and WashU have split 22 all-time meetings, and the Titans swept a doubleheader March 29 in St. Louis.
Four teams will compete at 14 regional sites and three teams will compete at two regional sites. The team advancing from each regional will compete in the super regional round May 20-21. The finals, hosted by the Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) and the City of Salem, will be held May 26-31 at Moyer Sports Complex in Salem, Va. All rounds will use a double-elimination format.
The winner of the Illinois Wesleyan Regional meets the winner of the Luther College in the Super Regional Friday-Saturday, May 20-21, at a site to be determined.