Lady Bears Seeded Third for USCAA National Softball Championships
#3 St. Joseph's to face #6 Penn State Mont Alto in the opening round on Friday
BROOKLYN, NY – Seedings for the 2011 United States Collegiate Athletic Association (USCAA) National Softball Championships have been released and the St. Joseph's College softball team will enter as the No. 3 seed when play begins on Friday, May 6 at Firestone Stadium in Akron, Ohio.
The Lady Bears concluded the regular season yesterday with a 25-7 record, defending their HVWAC Invitational Tournament title on Saturday and sweeping John Jay yesterday, winning nine of their last ten games.
St. Joseph's has climbed the USCAA rankings all season and has held the No. 3 spot for the past two weeks, the highest ranking ever for the program. This is the Lady Bears third straight appearance and the No. 3 seed also marks the highest seeding in four previous appearances to the national tournament.
Last season, St. Joseph's finished in third place with a thrilling 1-0 walk-off victory over Long Island rivals Briarcliffe.
The Lady Bears will face #6 Penn State Mont Alto on Friday at noon in the opening round of the tournament. Mont Alto (15-3) enters as champions of the Penn State University Athletic Conference and this will be the first meeting between the two schools.
Win or lose, the Lady Bears will play again on Friday at 6 p.m. facing #2 St. Mary-of-the-Woods or #7 Judson in either the winners or losers bracket. The Lady Bears fell to St. Mary-of-the-Woods in last year's semifinals, 8-2. St. Joseph's met Judson in the 2007 tournament, dropping two decisions, 8-0 and 4-1.
The National Championship is an eight team, double elimination format tournament. The tournament will be held at Firestone Stadium, home of the Akron Racers, a professional team in the National Pro Fastpitch (NPF) league, with the tournament hosted by Penn State Beaver and the Akron Racers.
Fans can follow the Lady Bears quest for St. Joseph's first national championship with live video and stats on www.sjcbears.com. Additional information can be found on the USCAA website at www.theuscaa.com.
2011 USCAA National Softball Championships Seedings
- Rochester
- St. Mary of the Woods
- St. Josephs (NY)
- Penn State Beaver
- Spalding
- Penn State Mont Alto
- Judson
- Penn College