The MIAC tournament champion St. Thomas softball team received a regional top-seed and will face Bethany Lutheran (Minn.) 10 a.m. Thursday in Pella, Iowa, in the opening round of the NCAA Division III softball tournament.
St. Thomas is the only MIAC team to make the field of 46 teams in the double-elimination tournament. It’s the Tommies’ 15th bid in the last 16 years to the NCAA tournament.
Regional eighth-seed Bethany Lutheran (23-18), of Mankato, Minn., took home its first ever Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) title Sunday. It’s the first-ever berth to an NCAA tournament in any sport in school history.
The Vikings are led by a strong offense, posting a team batting average of .291. They outscored their opponents 203-181. Pitcher Nicole Starkson posted a 1.91 ERA in 22 appearances.
Coach John Tschida said his team is still working on scouting Bethany.
“Any underdog that wins a conference tournament as an underdog has a hot pitcher or made some clutch plays … you never look past anyone,” Tschida said. “Everyone’s going to be good.”
The Tommies (38-5) finished the regular season on a 26-game win streak which included a perfect 25-0 conference record. Over the weekend, St. Thomas made it 10-for-10 all-time in the MIAC playoffs, with a combined 32-1 won-loss record in the event.
St. Thomas received tremendous production from the middle-infielders at the plate. Shortstop Jenna Hoffman popped two home runs and two doubles in the MIAC title game Sunday in Mankato. For the tournament, Hoffman hit .667 with seven RBIs, four home runs, four doubles and four singles.
Outfielder Dana Holmes said the team has a “pretty good chance to pull off that first win.”
“We’re just gonna go in and take it one team at a time,” Holmes said.
Right fielder Alyssa Nelson said there are several things the team needs to do to secure a win Thursday.
“We just need to keep putting up runs every inning … and play (a strong) defense and just keep hitting the ball,” Nelson said.
St. Thomas will look to rebound from its performance in the 2012 NCAA tournament, dropping a pair of 3-0 defeats to Iowa schools Coe College and Luther College.
The Tommies and Vikings share common opponents in St. Catherine and Macalester. The Wildcats swept the Vikings, while the Vikings swept the Scots. St. Thomas posted a 6-0 record versus the Wildcats and Scots.
Tschida said St. Thomas has one final goal this season: to win a national championship.
“We came into the season with that in mind, but we know that that’s not necessarily a controllable goal,” Tschida said. “Controllable is taking care of business; your mental, physical and emotional preparation before you play and see where the chips fall.”
Ross Schreck, Maggie Whitacre and Gabrielle Martinson contributed to this report.