COLUMBIA, Mo. - The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) has officially announced the 40-team field and pairing for the 2019 NAIA Softball National Championship Opening Round and the Madonna University softball team was named the fourth seed in the Columbia Bracket hosted by Columbia College (Mo.) at Antimi Sports Complex.

The Crusaders are paired with No. 6 Valley City State University (N.D.) (51-3, NSAA Tournament Champion), No. 18 Columbia College (35-10, AMC Tournament Champion) and No. 25 Brenau (Ga.) (34-10, AAC Tournament Champion). Madonna is 1-1 all time against their opening opponent, VCSU, having bested the Vikings in 2013 before losing to the Valley City program 8-7 on a walk-off, two-run home run at the Tucson Invitational Games back in March. The Blue and Gold have never played either of the other schools in the bracket.

Day 1 Schedule - Monday, May 13
GM 1: No. 2 Columbia vs. No. 3 Brenau, 12 p.m. EST
GM 2: No. 1 Valley City State vs. No. 4 Madonna, 2:30 p.m. EST

Each opening round site is a four-team, double-elimination tournament running May 13-15. The winner of each opening round site advances to the 10-team NAIA Softball World Series, May 23-29 in Springfield, Mo.

Madonna earned its third straight big to the NAIA Opening Round with a third consecutive Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference Regular Season championship which assured the Blue and Gold of the conference's first automatic bid. Siena Heights University won the WHAC tournament to claim the second bid and received votes in the final top-25 poll. The Saints are the fourth seed in the Marion Bracket hosted by Indiana Wesleyan.



This is Madonna's fourth trip to the opening round since the format began in 2013 and they are 6-6 in those trips. VCSU is making its first appearance in an opening round, Brenau is making its fourth, all in the past four seasons and is 3-4 in those trips, while the host Cougars are making a fifth appearance, third consecutive, and are 7-4 with one opening round win.

Madonna's opening opponent, VCSU is making its first national tournament since 2006 and set a school record for wins earlier this season and is now 51-3 overall and riding an 18-game winning streak. The Vikings have the fourth-best winning percentage (.944) in the nation. The Vikings are also fifth in ERA (1.38) and opponent batting average (.182) while ranking 10th in batting average (.360).

Live coverage links, including stats and video will be posted at www.mucrusaders.com when they are available.

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