NCAA Tournament Pairings Are Announced With No Real Surprises

No real surprises for the NCAA Division II Softball Tournament after the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Tournament was canceled.

You can see the tournament pairings are below for the NCAA Division II Tournament and you can scroll down to see the teams that were selected to compete from the Midwest Region. As expected, Ferris State and Northwood were excluded from the tournament field and thus there seasons officially came to an end on Monday as the announcement was made.

It's not to say that Ferris and Northwood were necessarily more deserving than some other teams that made it, but clearly arguments could be made.

Sadly, weather played a huge role in the inability of teams like Ferris and Northwood to get their one last shot at earning a spot in the NCAA Tournament and at winning a conference championship.

Hopefully the GLIAC can make adjustments to its scheduling to provide a little more flexibility to be able to start and finish the conference tournament.

Perhaps beginning on Thursday and having more fields and officials available (on stand by) are options to strongly consider moving forward with the league tournament (as has been discussed quite often since Saturday).

There were a lot of broken hearts as the painful decision was made. Hopefully wise people can get together and make some necessary adjustments to hopefully make this disappointment less likely in the years to come.

See the pairings, here.

GLIAC Tournament Officially Canceled Due to Rain, Playing Conditions

MIDLAND - It was a painful blow to head coach Keri Becker's Ferris State University's softball seniors (Amanda Harrington, Rachel Wade, Rhea Flores and Kayle Stevenson) as word officially came down Saturday (May 8) morning that the 2010 Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Softball Tournament, scheduled to take place over the weekend at Emerson Park in Midland, was officially canceled.

A steady rainfall, concerns about field playing conditions, the safety of the student-athletes and the time to finish the tournament were among reasons the tournament was officially canceled.

The decision to cancel the tournament is a painful blow to teams like Ferris and Northwood University - teams on the bubble with respect to the NCAA Division II Midwest Regional Rankings. There were not too many dry eyes in the hotel when the announcement was made to the Ferris team on Saturday morning. In the most recent rankings, Northwood was ninth and Ferris was 10th (the top eight teams at the end of the season (Sunday night) will earn bids to the NCAA Tournament.

With no more opportunities to prove themselves, on the softball diamond, the NCAA outlook is fairly bleak for the softball student-athletes at schools like Ferris and Northwood.

The picks for the NCAA-II Regional Championships officially will be announced Monday (May 10) at 10 a.m. via a Web cast selection show on NCAA.com.

Ferris is holding steady at 26-16 overall after a third-place finish (tied) in the GLIAC standings at 17-9.

As a result of the cancellation of the tournament, Wayne State University, the regular-season GLIAC champions, will receive the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.

Friday's GLIAC Tournament Games Postponed

MIDLAND - Ferris State University will have to wait to hopefully begin competition in the 2010 Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Softball Tournament at Emerson Park (May 7).

The first two games have not been completed as Ashland University and Grand Valley State University are tied 3-3 in one contest frozen in the fifth inning while Saginaw Valley State University is leading Northwood University 4-0 in a game that is still in the fourth inning.

The games were called for the day at about 3 p.m. as tournament officials decided the rain was not cooperative enough to restart the event.

The tournament will be in a holding pattern until Saturday morning when officials of the GLIAC, coaches and the staff of Emerson Park will see if they can get things started (with cooperation from the weather that is not looking particularly promising right now).

These games are important to teams like Ferris State University, Northwood and even Tiffin University that are NCAA Tournament bubble teams right now hoping to solidify their positions before selections are made.

There is a lot at stake for a good number of teams and for seniors who hope to keep their careers going a little longer.

Tournament In The Midst Of Rain Delay

MIDLAND - The 2010 Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Softball Tournament is in the midst of a rain delay at Emerson Park on Friday (May 7).

The first two games have not been completed as Ashland and Grand Valley State are tied 3-3 in one contest frozen in the fifth inning while Saginaw Valley State is leading Northwood 4-0 in a game that is still in the fourth inning.

The tournament is in a holding pattern until 3 p.m. when officials and coaches will meet to discuss the direction the tournament will move.

May. 7	Ferris St.		TBA		4:00 PM	Live stats
	"GLIAC Tournament" @ Midland, Mich.
	Tiffin		Ferris St.		12:00 PM	Live stats Live stats
	"GLIAC Tournament" @ Emerson Park, Midland, Mich.
	Hillsdale		Wayne St. (Mich.)		12:00 PM	Live stats
	"GLIAC Tournament" @ Emerson Park, Midland, Mich.
	Grand Valley St.	3	Ashland	3	Top of 5	Live stats
	"GLIAC Tournament" @ Emerson Park, Midland, Mich.
	Saginaw Valley	4	Northwood (Mich.)	0	Bottom of 4	Live stats
	"GLIAC Tournament" @ Emerson Park, Midland, Mich.

Bulldogs Top Cardinals 2-0 To Complete Sweep

UNIVERSITY CENTER - It was a much-needed softball sweep.

Ferris State University finished off a sweep of nationally-ranked Saginaw Valley State University on Saturday afternoon with a 2-0 win over the Cardinals.

Due to some technical difficulties, I am having trouble accessing the statistics from the game, but the Bulldogs of head coach Keri Becker did pull off an important sweep of the Cardinals in University Center.

Coming into this weekend, the Bulldogs figured to need to at least win a couple of games against two tough opponents (the second tough opponent is Wayne State University, another nationally-ranked team on Sunday).

Now, Ferris is in a position to win all four or three out of four which would strengthen their profile for the conference tournament and the NCAA Tournament.

A lot of softball season remains, against some tough opponents, but the Bulldogs helped themselves immensely with their wins on Saturday at Saginaw Valley.