NCAA Division III Selections Announced
Teams Play for Trip to Salem, Va.
May 4, 2008

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. --- The NCAA Division III Softball Committee has announced the 59 teams that will compete in the Division III Softball Championship.

Seven teams will compete at five first-round sites and eight teams will compete at three first-round sites for a total of eight first-round sites.  All sites will use a double-elimination format.

The seven-team first rounds will be held May 8-11 on the campuses of competing institutions.  The eight-team first rounds will be held May 8-12 on the campuses of competing institutions.  The finals, hosted by the City of Salem, Virginia and Old Dominion Athletic Conference, will be held May 16-20 at the James I. Moyer Sports Complex in Salem, Virginia.

Thirty-six conferences received automatic qualification and five independents were selected for the 2008 championship.  The 18 remaining teams were selected on an at-large basis from automatic qualifying conferences and the remaining independent institutions.

The conferences and teams that received automatic qualification were:

Allegheny Mountain CC – Pennsylvania State University Erie, the Behrend College
American Southwest – Louisiana College
Centennial – Ursinus College
CUNYAC – Hunter College
CCIW – North Central College
Commonwealth – Lebanon Valley College
Commonwealth Coast – Endicott College
Empire 8 – St. John Fisher College
Freedom – DeSales University
Great Northeast – Rivier College
Great South – LaGrange College
Heartland Collegiate – Defiance College
Iowa Intercollegiate – Wartburg College
Little East – Rhode Island College
MASCAC – Bridgewater State College
Michigan Intercol. – Tri-State University
Midwest – Ripon College
Minnesota Intercol. – University of St. Thomas (Minnesota)
NEAC – Keuka College
NESCAC – Tufts University
NEWMAC – Springfield College
NJAC – Montclair State University
North Atlantic – Lesley University
North Coast – Denison University
Northwest – Linfield College
OAC – Muskingum College
Old Dominion – Lynchburg College
Pennsylvania AC – Neumann College
Presidents’ – Bethany College (West Virginia)
Skyline – St. Joseph’s College (Long Island)
SCIAC – University of La Verne
SLIAC – Maryville University of Saint Louis
Southern Collegiate – DePauw University
SUNYAC –State University College at Cortland
USA South – Christopher Newport University
Wisconsin Intercollegiate – University of Wisconsin, Oshkosh

SITES: 
*Indicates host institution

Seed No. 1 - Winner of first round at Tyler, Texas.
1. Louisiana College  (39-5)
2. *Texas-Tyler  (40-7)
3. Mary Hardin-Baylor  (32-9)
4. Linfield  (36-4)
5. Redlands  (34-10)
6. Chapman  (27-9)
7. La Verne (27-17)

Seed No. 2 - Winner of first round at Fayetteville, North Carolina.
1. Lynchburg  (36-5)
2. Christopher Newport  (33-8-1)
3. *Methodist  (34-10)
4. Emory  (28-10)
5. LaGrange  (24-18)
6. Ursinus  (31-9)
7. Neumann  (27-12)

Seed No. 3 - Winner of first round at Eau Claire, Wisconsin.
1. St. Thomas (Minnesota)  (40-3)
2. Wisconsin-Oshkosh  (27-8)
3. North Central (Illinois)  (29-11)
4. Simpson  (28-10)
5. Illinois Wesleyan  (29-9)
6. *Wisconsin-Eau Claire  (28-11)
7. Aurora  (35-6)
8. Ripon  (20-12)

Seed No. 4 - Winner of first round at Plattsburgh, New York.
1. Montclair State  (42-4)
2. Endicott  (38-4)
3. St. John Fisher  (24-19)
4. Cortland State  (39-11)
5. Eastern Connecticut State  (26-12)
6. Springfield  (29-15)
7. Keuka  (23-7)

Seed No. 5 - Winner of first round at Rock Island, Illinois.
1. DePauw  (37-2)
2. Wartburg  (29-6)
3. Wisconsin-Whitewater  (30-8)
4. Tri-State  (31-6)
5. Washington U. in St. Louis  (24-13)
6. Coe  (31-14)
7. Alma  (25-11)
8. Maryville (Missouri)  (27-15)

Seed No. 6 - Winner of first round at Ithaca, New York.
1. *Ithaca  (28-7)
2. Ramapo  (33-10)
3. Rochester  (28-10)
4. Lebanon Valley (27-9)
5. DeSales  (27-13)
6. Bethany (West Virginia)  (22-21)
7. Penn State-Behrend  (33-12)
8. Defiance  (22-16)

Seed No. 7 - Winner of first round at Glassboro, New Jersey.
1. Muskingum  (36-9)
2. Mount Union (30-7)
3. *Rowan  (31-9)
4. Kean  (30-14)
5. Western Connecticut State  (28-13)
6. Denison  (25-10)
7. Hunter  (22-19)

Seed No. 8 - Winner of first round at Providence, Rhode Island.
1. *Rhode Island College  (33-7)
2. Tufts  (28-9)
3. St. Joseph’s (Long Island)  (30-6)
4. Wellesley  (27-9-1)
5. Lesley  (30-10)
6. Bridgewater State  (26-15)
7. Rivier  (24-12)

Linfield won the 2007 NCAA Division III Softball Championship by defeating Washington-St. Louis 10-2 in last year’s championship game. 

For more information about the Division III Softball Championship, log on to www.ncaa.com.