INDIANAPOLIS – The Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC) announced on Monday the eight-team field for the 2022 GLVC Softball Championship Tournament, scheduled for May 5-8 in East Peoria, Ill. This season marks the 18th consecutive year the league postseason tournament will be held at the EastSide Centre.
The winner will receive the league’s automatic-qualifying bid to the 2022 NCAA Midwest Regional.
University of Southern Indiana claimed the No. 1 seed, while University of Indianapolis is slotted at No. 2 entering the double-elimination tournament. Drury University will be the No. 3 seed, Lindenwood University the No. 4 seed, University of Missouri-St. Louis the No. 5 seed, and University of Illinois Springfield the No. 6 seed. The seventh and eighth seeds belong to Rockhurst University and Maryville University. The format this year will look a little different than previously, as just four games will be played each of the first three days on one field, and the Championship game(s) will be played Sunday.
Ranked 16th in the latest NFCA national poll, Southern Indiana (40-10, 26-2 GLVC) earned the top seed in this year’s event, winning the GLVC Regular Season title with a .929 percentage. The Screaming Eagles are making their 28th appearance at the GLVC Championship Tournament, looking for their fifth title over the course of the 38-year history of the event. USI will square off with Maryville (17-24, 12-16) on Thursday at 12:30 PM Central Time (CT). The Saints snuck in this season’s tournament, winning a four-way tiebreaker against Lewis, McKendree, Missouri S&T, and Quincy based on the natural order of finish and their 4-2 record against those three schools. They needed a sweep in this morning’s season-finale doubleheader with Lewis to claim the final spot and secured just that with 1-0 and 3-1 wins.
Indianapolis (45-7, 24-4) picked up the No. 2 seed, earning its 31st trip to the tournament with an .857 winning percentage. The second-ranked Greyhounds meet Rockhurst University (45-7, 14-13) on Thursday at 3 PM with UIndy looking for its third league title and Rockhurst vying for its first. The Hawks are making their seventh appearance in the postseason event, including their second-straight berth. Despite splitting the regular season doubleheader with Illinois Springfield, Rockhurst settled for the seventh seed after losing a tiebreaker based on getting swept by 2-seed UIndy with UIS splitting that regular season DH against the Hounds.
Drury (35-14, 21-7) snagged the No. 3 seed for the second year in a row, making its third-straight GLVC Tournament to advance to their fifth overall league postseason. The Panthers won a head-to-head tiebreaker over Lindenwood, sweeping the DH in the regular season, and will face Illinois Springfield (31-18, 15-13) on Thursday at 5:30 PM, as the Prairie Stars enter as the No. 6 seed, winning the tiebreaker over Rockhurst. This weekend marks the eighth appearance for UIS at the EastSide Centre, while both teams will be playing for their first GLVC crown.
Lindenwood (34-10, 21-7 GLVC) and Missouri-St. Louis (28-21, 16-12) are the No. 4 and No. 5 seeds, respectively, and will play one another in the opening game Thursday at 10 AM. The Lions lost their tiebreaker to Drury to take the fourth spot and will play in their second GLVC Championship Tournament after making their first appearance in 2021, while the Tritons come into the postseason affair for the 20th time and will look to capture its sixth league title.
Each day of the event, ticket prices will be $12 for adults and $5 for youth (ages 6-17) and students (with ID), while children 5 and under are free. The adult and youth/student tickets can be purchased at
GLVCsports.com/tickets.
For complete coverage and tournament details, please visit the Championship homepage at
GLVCsports.com/2022softball. All games will be streamed for free on
GLVCSN.com.