KANSAS CITY, Mo.- Southeastern softball has landed an at-large bid into the NAIA National Tournament and will head to No. 4 Southern Oregon as the two-seed in the Ashland Opening Round Bracket.
Joining the Fire and the Raiders in the Ashland Bracket will be No. 3 Reinhardt University and No. 4 Vanguard University.
After falling to the No. 18 ranked Mariners of Coastal Georgia in the Sun Conference Tournament Championship, the Fire earned their second consecutive at-large bid after a 33-16 overall record and NAIA ranking of No. 20. The Fire's season has been highlighted by six wins over Top 25 teams including a 4-1 win over the current ranked No. 3 team, University of the Cumberlands. Southeastern earned a spot in the NAIA World Series last season after winning the Lawrenceville Opening Round Bracket.
Southeastern will first take on Reinhardt on May 15th at 2 p.m. eastern. With a win, the Fire will then take on the winner of Southern Oregon and Vanguard on Tuesday at 2 p.m. eastern.
The Eagles of Reinhardt (35-11) earned a spot in the national tournament after an Appalachian Athletic Conference Regular Season Championship and will be making their seventh appearance in the national tournament after missing the tournament last season.
The No. 4 ranked Raiders of Southern Oregon will be the top seed in the bracket after a 42-11 season that earned them an at-large bid. The Raiders fell to the top team in the NAIA, Oregon Tech, in the Cascade Collegiate Conference Tournament by a score a 7-6 and will be making their seventh national tournament appearance.
The final team will be the Lions of Vanguard who come into the tournament as the Golden State Athletic Conference Tournament Champions with a 26-28 overall record. This will be their fourth national tournament appearance and first since 2019.
