Championship Central | Tournament Bracket
INDIANAPOLIS – The bracket is set for this week's 2016 Great Lakes Valley Conference Softball Championship Tournament, which will be held April 29-May 1 at the EastSide Centre in East Peoria, Ill. The University of Indianapolis secured the Conference’s regular season title and the top seed entering the double-elimination postseason event. The No. 2 seed will be University of Missouri-St. Louis, followed by No. 3 University of Southern Indiana, No. 4 Maryville University and No. 5 Truman State University. The sixth seed will be Bellarmine University and rounding out the eight-team field is No. 7 McKendree University and No. 8 William Jewell College.
Second-ranked Indianapolis (27-3, 46-3 GLVC) garnered the event’s No. 1 seed by a single game and will face No. 8 William Jewell (24-26, 14-16) on Friday, April 29 at 10 a.m. The Cardinals make their third postseason berth after winning a three-way tiebreaker based on having the best head-to-head record against University of Illinois Springfield and Rockhurst University. The Greyhounds have now made the tournament every year since 2003, last winning the title in 2012. Earlier in the season, UIndy swept Jewell March 13 with scores of 2-1 and 12-2 (5 inn.).
Three-time defending GLVC Champion Missouri-St. Louis (48-5, 26-4) will be the second seed and play seventh-seeded McKendree (25-27, 16-14) at 12 p.m. on Friday, April 29. The Bearcats stole a game from the sixth-ranked Tritons on March 19 in game two of a doubleheader in Lebanon and make their first-ever appearance in the league’s championship tournament since becoming a Conference member in 2012. UMSL won the first game 1-0 earlier in the season and look to build upon its GLVC record with a fourth consecutive championship crown.
Southern Indiana (33-17, 21-9) enters the tournament as the No. 3 seed and will battle No. 6 Bellarmine (32-24, 19-11) on Friday, April 29 at 12 p.m., looking to rectify its twinbill loss March 29 in Louisville. The Screaming Eagles are in their second-straight postseason tournament, while the Knights enter for the sixth time in a row.
Seeds No. 4 and 5 were determined based on a tiebreaker between Maryville (36-12, 20-10) and Truman State (28-16, 20-10). The teams split a doubleheader in St. Louis, as the Bulldogs won game one 4-3 and the Saints took the nightcap 6-5. That split voided a head-to-head tiebreak scenario, so the next criterion was followed, pitting each team against all others that clinched a tournament berth. Maryville won that tiebreaker with an 8-6 overall record versus Truman’s 7-7 mark, and they will play Friday, April 29 at 10 a.m. in a rematch from April 2. Additionally, this is Maryville’s first-ever berth in the softball postseason since joining the league in 2008.
The event will mark the 33rd GLVC Softball Championship Tournament and 12th-straight time it has been held at the EastSide Centre.
An all-tournament pass can be purchased for $25 and admit the holder to all events over the three-day period. Single-day tickets are priced as follows: $10 for adults, $5 for students and youth (K-12) while all those under 5 will be admitted free.
For more information, log on to the championship site: GLVCsports.com/GLVCsb16.