IRVINE, Calif. - For the eighth straight time, the Concordia University Irvine softball team gets to compete in the NCAA DII West Regional Tournament!
The brackets came out early Monday morning and the Golden Eagles will face a familiar foe up in Hayward, Calif. to begin double-elimination postseason play. CUI first plays No. 6 seeded Biola for the fourth straight game this Thursday, May 14 at 12 p.m. PT in their pod.
No. 2 seed Cal State East Bay is hosting this quartet of teams with No. 7 Western Washington matched up with the Pioneers in their first contest.
CLICK HERE for the Bracket
CUI just won its fourth consecutive PacWest Conference Tournament to secure the automatic bid into the NCAA Regional. The Concordia softball program has also won seven of the past ten PacWest regular season conference titles - including this year by finishing one game ahead of second-place Biola in the standings.
Concordia has faced all of these fellow playoff teams at least once already this season and sports a 5-5 record against that trio. CUI is 4-3 against Biola this season including an emphatic 8-0 shutout victory to close out the PacWest Conference Championships and hoise the trophy.
CUI also
defeated Western Washington 5-4 in February during the Concordia Kickoff Classic and faced East Bay
in a non-conference doubleheader later that month in Hayward.
CLICK HERE for the full NCAA DII Softball Bracket
The Golden Eagles also had
nine different student-athletes voted to the PacWest All-Conference teams - led by First Team third baseman
Audrey Robles and PacWest Newcomer of the Year
Morgan Kneubuhler.
Kneubuhler is CUI's starting catcher and led the league in home runs with 17 in the regular season. Robles is right behind her with 14 homers entering the regional, and was just named the PacWest Most Outstanding Player of the conference tournament.
The 1-2 punch of junior
Jayden Nishi and sophomore
Kacie Gossett in the circle make CUI a very formidable opponent for any team. Both those pitchers were also named Second Team All-PacWest.
CLICK HERE for the updated CUI softball schedule
