NCAA Division III Regional Championship Website
INDIANAPOLIS – The Gettysburg College softball team will begin its NCAA Division III Championship run against top-ranked Virginia Wesleyan College on the campus of Christopher Newport University on May 11.
Gettysburg (24-14) will take on Virginia Wesleyan (45-2), which won its first national title in 2017, on the opening day of the three-day, double-elimination event. Game time is 2:30 p.m. Host and eighth-ranked Christopher Newport (35-8) will meet Messiah College (27-16) in Friday's first game at noon. Action Saturday and Sunday begins at 1 p.m. and noon, respectively.
Ticket prices for the regional are $10 for adults and $5 for students and children.
The Bullets will be making their third trip to the national stage and first since 2007. Gettysburg concluded an incredible end-of-season run by winning three elimination games in the Centennial Conference Championship. Weather wiped out the final day of competition, giving the Orange and Blue the trophy and automatic qualifier as the highest remaining seed.
Virginia Wesleyan earned an automatic bid out of the Old Dominion Athletic Conference. After dropping their playoff opener, the Marlins won their final six games, including back-to-back shutouts against Emory & Henry to claim the league crown. Virginia Wesleyan is making its sixth consecutive and ninth overall appearance in the national tournament.
Christopher Newport claimed the automatic qualifier as the Capital Athletic Conference champion. After earning the top seed with a 13-1 league record, the Captains bounced back from a loss to Salisbury University in the first game of the championship series to win the next two and claim the program's fourth conference title in five seasons. Christopher Newport is making its 12th straight and 16th overall trip to the national postseason.
Messiah won its seventh Middle Atlantic Conference Commonwealth title to earn a third consecutive trip to NCAAs. The Falcons defeated top seed Arcadia University twice in the conference playoffs to earn their 12th overall national bid.
Gettysburg has played Virginia Wesleyan and Christopher Newport just once prior. The Bullets faced both teams in 2011, falling to the Marlins 10-1 and losing to the Captains 10-0. Gettysburg has a long-standing rivalry with Messiah that dates back to 1981. Messiah leads the all-time series 30-22. The two teams split a doubleheader on April 20 with the Falcons winning the opener 4-0 and the Bullets taking the nightcap 3-2.
