Teams Likely To Be Even More Disappointed When NCAA Tournament Field Announced

BIG RAPIDS - Ferris State University and some other Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference softball teams hurt by the cancellation of the tournament are unlikely to be less disappointed Monday morning when the NCAA Tournament pairings are announced.

The top eight teams in each NCAA Division II region will qualify for NCAA Tournament. From those top eight teams, the top two from each each region will serve as sub-regional tournament hosts on May 14-16. The winners of the sub-regional play in the super regional (May 21-22) with the punching tickets to the 2010 NCAA-II Softball Championships (May 27-31) at Heritage Park in St. Joseph, Mo. The eight NCAA Division II regions are the Atlantic, Central, East, Midwest, South, South Central, Southeast and West.

The selections are set to be announced on Monday, May 10, at 10 a.m. on the Web at NCAA.com.

Ferris and Northwood University were among the teams playing good softball during the season (perhaps better ball than some teams ranked among them in the regional rankings).

As a side note, on Sunday (May 9), Lewis University won the Great Lakes Valley Conference Tournament courtesy of a 7-5 win over Northern Kentucky University.

In the most recent regional rankings, Ferris was ranked 10th.

Here are the regional rankings as of May 1:

Midwest Region	Division II	In-Region
1. Wayne State (Mich.)	45-10	32-7
2. Ashland	33-11	32-9
3. Indianapolis	34-13	29-7
4. Lewis	28-12	25-8
5. Saginaw Valley State	24-14	20-13
6. Quincy	35-13	32-11
7. Tiffin	31-16	29-13
8. Northern Kentucky	31-16	30-15
9. Northwood	23-17	21-14
10. Ferris State	26-16	24-13

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.