Leatherneck Nation

Final Softball Standings:

Conference / All
North Dakota State 13-3 / 30-15
Fort Wayne 13-4 / 38-13
Omaha 12-6 / 33-16
South Dakota 9-8 / 28-20
IUPUI 7-10 / 22-22
Western Illinois 4-13 / 18-26-1
South Dakota State 2-16 / 11-34

Western Softball ended the regular season on a 12-game losing streak.

The Conference Tournament will be May 7-10 at North Dakota State.

Tournament Bracket: http://www.thesummitleague.org/sports/s ... racket.pdf

Softball Tournament Seeds:
1. North Dakota State
2. IPFW
3. South Dakota
4. IUPUI
5. Western
6. South Dakota State

Western will open its tournament play on Wednesday, May 7, at 5:30PM vs IUPUI.

Tournament Schedule: http://www.thesummitleague.org/sports/s ... ship/index

Now, if we were in the OVC, I would be watching this game tomorrow for free. Instead, I have to feed the Bison coffers to the tune of $6.95. I will do it but Tom Douple could do a lot better if he put his mind to it.

The gals go down 10-2 in 5 innings against IUPUI. I only caught the last at bat for Western thinking the game started at 6:30 my time. The people in the stands looked like they were dressed for football weather. I will be back hopefully on time for tomorrow's game against the Jacks - 3PM Central I think.

Western now faces a must-win situation in the second round of the tournament against South Dakota State Thursday (May 8) at 3:00 PM. (CDT) in Fargo. South Dakota State lost their game 7-2 to South Dakota.

Our game today did have an announced start-time of 5:30 PM. But it actually started at 4:25 PM.

Attendance was 103. Weather was cloudy, 60, winds WNW at 19 mph.

Just can't get over just how great a start softball had and how things have slid so far since that time. I saw them play in the Dome in Rosemont and then followed them on the Neck network every chance I could. The bombardment they took from South Dakota in an early tournament concerned me basically because it seemed like the pitching was sketchy at best. Then I think the bats turned ice cold! Great group of ladies, great coaching staff! Just can't explain it. I know also that the loss of Meg Kelly was huge but....

Due to inclement weather in Fargo, (5) Western's 2nd round contest of the 2014 Summit League Championships against (6) South Dakota State has been postponed until Friday (May 9).

The Fighting Leathernecks and Jackrabbits will play at 10 a.m. with both teams in a must-win situation.

One game was played today: (2) IPFW beat (3) South Dakota 9-8.

Updated Friday Schedule:

Due wet field conditions in Fargo after Thursday's heavy rains, today's (Friday, May 9) game times for day three of the Summit League Softball Championship have been pushed back:

No. 5 Western will now play No. 6 South Dakota State at 12:30 p.m. CT

No. 1 North Dakota State vs. No. 3 South Dakota at 3 p.m. CT

No. 2 IPFW vs. No. 4 IUPUI at 5:30 p.m. CT

An eight-run third inning propelled Western to a 10-4 victory over South Dakota State on Friday (May 9) to keep the 2014 season alive.

South Dakota State has been eliminated from the tournament.

Weather for the game: 53, Partly Cloudy, Wind NNW at 26 mph.

Attendance = 56.


Western will play another elimination game on Saturday at 9AM vs North Dakota State. North Dakota State beat South Dakota today 11-8. South Dakota has been eliminated from the tournament.

Both Western and NDSU have a severe uphill climb and must win four consecutive games today in order to take home the hardware. The loser's bracket is so brutal on the final day of any double elimination tournament and few teams have enough solid pitching to pull it off. I have also been paying attention to the MVC tournament. They have an eight team single elimination format with the #1 and #2 seeds getting byes to the semifinals. Loyola and Bradley will be squaring off today for their championship. It really pays to kick ass in the regular season to get the good seed positions in the tournament.