Softball Heads to Kentucky as No. 4 Seed for 2024 NAIA Softball Opening Round

KANSAS CITY, Mo.- The softball team learned their destination for the 2024 NAIA Softball National Championship Opening Round on Tuesday. This is the third season in a row and the fourth time in program history the softball team has qualified for the opening round. The team earned one of the two Appalachian Athletic Conference (AAC) automatic bids to the opening round with their appearance in the championship game of the 2024 AAC Softball Tournament. 

The 2024 NAIA Softball National Championship Opening Round features a newly expanded 48-team field. The field consists of field includes 32 automatic qualifiers and 16 at-large selections. This is the eleventh annual opening round event and it takes place May 13-16 at 10 host sites. Two opening round locations will feature four teams while the remaining eight locations will feature five teams in a double-elimination tournament. The winner of each opening round site will advance to the 2024 NAIA Softball World Series in Columbus, Ga., to battle for the red banner at the 43rd Softball World Series May 23-29.

In the brackets announced by the national office for the NAIA Opening Round, the Lady Bulldogs were placed in the Williamsburg Bracket as the No. 4 seed. Joining the Lady Bulldogs in the Williamsburg Bracket are the No. 1 University of the Cumberlands (the hosts), No. 2 seed Benedictine College (Kan.), No. 3 seed College of Coastal Georgia, and No. 5 seed St. Francis University (Ill.). 

Live Stats and Live Stream:

All the games will have live stats and will be live-streamed for free. The links for the live stats of all the games can be found here. The live stream can be seen by clicking here. All links will also be put on the team's schedule page as well as social media on the day of the games.

Tickets:

Tickets costs are as follows: 

Tournament Pass (Ages 11 years old and up)- $20.00

(Children 10 and under) – Free

Tickets can be purchased ahead of time by clicking here.

Here is the list of teams in the Williamsburg Bracket:

No. 1 seed Cumberlands (44-7 overall; Mid-South Conference; At-Large) | Schedule | Roster
No. 2 seed Benedictine (Kan.) (39-14 overall; Heart of American Conference Tournament Runner-Up) | Schedule | Roster
No. 3 seed Coastal Georgia (36-12 overall; The Sun Conference; At-Large ) | Schedule | Roster
No. 4 seed Tennessee Wesleyan (27-13 overall; Appalachian Athletic Conference Tournament Runner-Up) | Schedule | Roster
No. 5 seed St. Francis (Ill.) (29-14 overall; Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference; At-Large) | Schedule | Roster

The tournament schedule is listed below (all times listed below are in Eastern Standard Time; Weather may affect game times)