COLLEGE SOFTBALL: Elizabethtown Sports Park hosting eight-team tournament next three days (03/15)

It has undergone some changes since it was announced six months ago, but the United States Collegiate Athletic Association’s 16-game Preseason Invitational will be contested the next three days at the Elizabethtown Sports Park.

It is the Sports Park’s first collegiate event after focusing on youth and travel-ball events.

Eight teams — none from Kentucky — are entered. Four teams are playing five games, two teams are playing four games and two teams are playing twice. The Iowa (Mount Pleasant) Wesleyan College Tigers are the only team playing all three days.

The Briarcliffe College Bulldogs (Bethpage, N.Y.) and the Indiana (New Albany) University Southeast Grenadiers are playing today and Saturday, while a pair of late additions – the Roosevelt (Chicago) University Lakers and the Indiana (Marion) Wesleyan University Panthers – are playing two games each Saturday.

The Lindenwood University-Belleville Lady Lynx (Illinois), Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College Pomeroy (Indiana) and West Virginia University Institute of Technology Golden Bears (Montgomery) are playing Saturday and Sunday.

The tournament originally included nine teams, but the Judson College Eagles (Marian, Ala.), Penn State Beaver Lady Lions (Monaca) and Robert Morris University-Springfield Lady Eagles (Illinois) all pulled out.

The Virginia-based USCAA was founded in 2009 and its Kentucky members include Alice Lloyd College in eastern Kentucky and Spalding University in Louisville.

According to its website, the USCAA is “a national organization that exists to provide quality athletic competition on a regional and national level. The USCAA focuses specifically on smaller institutions of higher learning and their student-athletes. The association believes that all athletes and programs deserve the same national opportunities as larger institutions. We are an organization that can provide those opportunities.”

The tournament is the brainchild of Belleville coach Charlie Kennedy, who was looking for a neutral site following his team’s 13-hour bus ride trip to Buena Vista, Va., last year to face Southern Virginia.

Belleville and IU-Southeast were originally slated to host the event in New Albany, but the site was moved when Southeast’s former coach left the Grenadiers when he accepted a new job.

Three of the programs are already familiar with each other as Belleville, Briarcliffe, and Saint Mary-of-the-Woods composed of half of the quarterfinalists in last year’s USCAA Softball National Championship in Akron, Ohio. This year’s Small College World Series returns to Akron from May 13-16.

IU-Southeast and Briarcliffe meet in the Invitational’s opening game at 5 tonight on Field 1.

 

Date

Time

Teams

Location / Venue

Result

 

 

 

3/15

5:00 pm

Indiana Southeast
Briarcliffe College

Elizabethtown, KY
Field #1

 

 

 

 

 

 

3/15

7:00 pm

Briarcliffe College
Iowa Wesleyan College

Elizabethtown, KY
Field #1

 

 

 

 

 

 

3/16

9:00 am

St. Mary of the Woods
Briarcliffe College

Elizabethtown, KY
Field #2

 

 

 

 

 

 

3/16

9:00 am

Indiana Southeast
Roosevelt Univ.

Elizabethtown, KY
Field #3

 

 

 

 

 

 

3/16

11:00 am

West Virginia Tech
Iowa Wesleyan College

Elizabethtown, Ky.
Field #1

 

 

 

 

 

 

3/16

11:00 am

Briarcliffe College
LU-Belleville

Elizabethtown, Ky.
Field #2

 

 

 

 

 

 

3/16

11:00 am

Roosevelt Univ.
St. Mary of the Woods

Elizabethtown, Ky.
Field #3

 

 

 

 

 

 

3/16

1:00 pm

Indiana Wesleyan Univ.
St. Mary of the Woods

Elizabethtown, Ky.
Field #1

 

 

 

 

 

 

3/16

1:00 pm

Briarcliffe College
West Virginia Tech

Elizabethtown, Ky.
Field #2

 

 

 

 

 

 

3/16

1:00 pm

LU-Belleville
Indiana Southeast

Elizabethtown, Ky.
Field #3

 

 

 

 

 

 

3/16

3:00 pm

LU-Belleville
Indiana Wesleyan Univ.

Elizabethtown, Ky.
Field #1

 

 

 

 

 

 

3/16

3:00 pm

West Virginia Tech
Indiana Southeast

Elizabethtown, Ky.
Field #2

 

 

 

 

 

 

3/17

9:00 am

LU-Belleville
Iowa Wesleyan College

Elizabethtown, Ky.
Field #1

 

 

 

 

 

 

3/17

9:00 am

St. Mary of the Woods
West Virginia Tech

Elizabethtown, Ky.
Field #2

 

 

 

 

 

 

3/17

10:30 am

Iowa Wesleyan College
St. Mary of the Woods

Elizabethtown, Ky.
Field #1

 

 

 

 

 

 

3/17

10:30 am

West Virginia Tech
LU-Belleville

Elizabethtown, Ky.
Field #2