Championship Central |
Tournament Bracket
INDIANAPOLIS – The bracket is set for this week's 2015 Great Lakes Valley Conference Softball Championship Tournament, which will be held May 1-3 at EastSide Centre in East Peoria, Ill. Missouri-St. Louis secured the conference’s first-ever regular season title and the top seed entering the double-elimination postseason event. The No. 2 seed will be Indianapolis, followed by No. 3 Southern Indiana, No. 4 Truman State, No. 5 Bellarmine. Rounding out the contingent is No. 6 Lewis, No. 7 Illinois Springfield and No. 8 Rockhurst.
Third-ranked UMSL (40-6, 25-5 GLVC) garnered the event’s No. 1 seed after winning the championship the last two years. The Tritons will face No. 8 seed Rockhurst (26-20, 16-14 GLVC) on Friday, May 1 at 10 a.m. in game one. The Hawks have made four appearances in the postseason tournament, including this season and last, and beat out William Jewell for the final slot in the bracket after a head-to-head tiebreaker. Earlier in the season, UMSL swept Rockhurst 8-0, 3-2 on March 28.
Following that contest, No. 2 seed UIndy (38-10, 23-5 GLVC) will face No. 7 seed Illinois Springfield (31-20, 16-14 GLVC) at 12 p.m. for game three. UIS has made an appearance in the GLVC Softball Championship Tournament three out of the last four years, including 2015, while 9th-ranked UIndy has 27 appearances with a title from 2012. On April 12, the Prairie Stars split a doubleheader on the road against the Greyhounds, earning a slim 1-0 victory in the nightcap after falling 6-0 in the opening game.
Also competing at noon will be No. 3 seed Southern Indiana (37-7, 22-6 GLVC) against No. 6 Lewis (25-20, 15-13 GLVC). Friday’s game four will feature another team in the top 25 national rankings with #15 USI against a team in the Flyers, who earned their spot with a sweep of Drury in the final twinbill of the regular season. Earlier this season, USI swept Lewis 7-2, 4-1 on April 12. The Screaming Eagles have made 23 postseason appearances while winning the championship three times in the 1990s. Lewis has the most appearances (31) as well as the most conference titles (10).
With the fourth seed, Truman State (32-12, 21-7 GLVC) will battle No. 5 Bellarmine (32-14, 20-8 GLVC) at 10 a.m. in game two. TSU recently swept the Knights 4-3, 2-1 on April 18. This is just the second year that the Bulldogs have been eligible for the postseason and also the second time they have successfully made their way in. Bellarmine has a longer history of softball postseason appearances, totaling 21, including five straight to this point, although the tournament crown has eluded the Knights thus far.
The event will mark the 32nd GLVC Softball Championship Tournament and 11th-straight time it has been held at EastSide Centre.
An all-tournament pass can be purchased for $20 and admit the holder to all events over the three-day period. Single-day tickets are priced as follows: Friday’s contest will be $10 for adults, $7 for students and youth (K-12) while all those under 5 will be admitted free; Saturday tickets for adults will cost $7, while student and youth prices will be $5 per ticket with free entry for children 5 and under; and Sunday tickets will cost $5 for adults and $3 per student and youth with free admission for children 5 and under.
For more information, log on to the championship
website.