OLLU Tournament Central | Streaming | NAIA Opening Round Schedules
SAN ANTONIO, Texas -- The Evangel University softball team found out its destination on Tuesday afternoon in the NAIA National Tournament after earning one of the NAIA automatic bids. The Valor will head to San Antonio, Texas, as the number three seed and face No. 2 seed Hope International (Calif.) on Monday, May 13th.
Evangel and Hope International's first pitch is set for 12:00 p.m. on Monday (May 13) at the St. Mary's University Softball Field. All tickets are purchasable at the gate with cash or card and will cost $10 per day. All games will be streamed for free through the Our Lady of the Lake Sports Network.
The Valor return to the NAIA National Tournament for the first season under Jay Halbrook. Evangel will head to the San Antonio Opening Round hosted by the number one overall seed in the nation, Our Lady of the Lake, as four teams will take part in one of 10 opening round sites around the country with the winner at each site advancing to the NAIA National Championship Final Site in Columbus, Georgia. No. 1 seed and host OLLU (Texas) will take on No. 4 seed Cottey (Mo.) in the other first-round game at 2:30 p.m. on Monday.
Evangel earned its bid by receiving an automatic berth, earned by winning the regular season conference title, as well as the conference tournament championship. The Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference brings three teams to this season's tournament, (5) Friends and (4) Ottawa.
The Valor enter the tournament at 36-8 under the direction of ninth-year head coach Jay Halbrook. This is Halbrook's first trip to the national tournament in his career at Evangel and is Evangel's first appearance in the national tournament since 2008, when they made an appearance in the previously formatted regional site tournament.
For the latest information on Evangel Athletics, visit Facebook at Facebook.com/EvangelValor, Twitter (@EvangelValor), or EvangelAthletics.com. Fans can also receive updates on their favorite EU teams by downloading the Evangel Athletics Gameday App through the App Store or Google Play.