SB advances to ASC Championship Tournament

04/30/08

Belton, TX - The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor softball team will make its tenth straight trip to the American Southwest Conference Championship Tournament this weekend in Irving. The Cru finished the regular season with a 31-7 overall record and a 24-0 mark in ASC West Division play. UMHB won the ASC West for the second straight year and fourth time overall in the program's history. The Cru also became the first ASC team to go 24-0 in divisional play. UMHB will receive a first round bye in the three-day, double-elimination tournament and will open the tournament in the second round at 11:00 AM on Friday. The Cru will face the winner of the opening round game between U.T.-Tyler (35-5) and Howard Payne University (25-15). UMHB will then turn around and play again at either 2:00 PM (loser's bracket) or 5:00 PM (winner's bracket) on Friday. The tournament will wrap up on Saturday and the ASC Tournament champion will receive an automatic bid to the NCAA Division III National Championships. All of the tournament games will be played at Southwest Park in Irving.

Concordia Texas (26-10) and East Texas Baptist University (25-13) will meet in the other first round game. The winner of that game will face East Division champion Louisiana College (36-4) in the second round.

UMHB enters the tournament batting .349 as a team. Cru pitchers have combined for a 2.53 ERA and eight shutouts on the season. UMHB is 9-2 on the season against the other teams in the ASC Tournament field. The Cru went 4-0 against Howard Payne, posted a 4-0 record against Concordia Texas, went 1-0 against ETBU and 0-1 against both Louisiana College and U.T.-Tyler.

UMHB is the only ASC program to qualify for every ASC Championship Tournament. The Cru went 0-2 in last year's tournament. Hardin-Simmons won the ASC Tournament last year and Louisiana College and Mississippi College also claimed berths in the NCAA Division III National Championships last season.

You can listen to all of the UMHB softball team's games at the ASC Championship Tournament through the UMHB athletic department web site. Just point your browser to http://www2.umhb.edu/sportsinfo/streaming/default.htm. You can also follow the ASC Tournament with live stats through the conference web site at www.ascsports.org.