Tourney Time!

While we sit and wait to see what the Division 1 softball tournament is going to look like on May 12th, the Division 2 schedule is already set. With a win in the GMAC conference tournament, Northwood University has made their way to the big stage. They actually went undefeated in the conference tournament.

Although they should be considered a rival to my beloved Tiffin Dragons, since the Dragons didn't make it to the tournament, I will likely be cheering for Northwood. You see, Northwood University is in the town I grew up outside of. I spent a good deal of my youth in and around the campus. Especially in the fall when they would have their annual auto show. It was my favorite time of year.

@a4xjeeper's niece was actually committed to play softball at Northwood for a short time, but they tried to do some funky stuff with her scholarship, so she decided to go elsewhere. The photo above was taken last year when Tiffin came to Northwood to play.

Given our proximity to the campus, we drove over and spent the afternoon watching Tiffin take on the Timberwolves.

The way the NCAA D2 tournament is set up, there are 16 regions with four teams in each region. They will play against each other in a double elimination format until one team from each region is the winner. That regional champion is then paired with another regional champion in a "super regional" game.

The super regional is a best of three matchup that will bring 16 teams down to 8. In case you lost count, that's 64 teams cut down to just 8 in a matter of a week or two. Finally, the remaining eight teams play a double elimination format in separate brackets of four teams. The final two teams that survive those eight then go head to head in a best of three championship game.

I'll be honest, it took me a while to get used to the format, but now that I understand it, it makes a lot of sense. I apologize if I did a horrible job of explaining it to you. If you could see the bracket, it would probably make more sense.

Here's the thing that kind of bugs me about the bracket. They seem to have put all the teams from the same conference together in the opening "quads". So Northwood is going to face at least two other teams they have already faced multiple times this year. I just think that's kind of dumb. Even in the NCAA basketball bracket they try to spread things out a bit.

If I had to guess, it all comes down to money and the fact that softball programs don't have the funds that men's basketball programs do, so they can't go traveling all over the US. The games that the GMAC is playing in will be right in Nashville, TN. Less than a day's drive for all of the teams involved.

It's still pretty dumb though for both the teams and the fans. It kind of makes the conference tournaments pointless when you pit these teams against each other again like this. For example, Trevecca Nazarene was the number 1 seed in the GMAC conference, but they got knocked out early with upset losses against University of Findlay and Northwood. Now that we are all in the same block, Trevecca is basically getting a "do-over".

I'd also like to point out that my Alma Matter Saginaw Valley State University made it to the tournament as well, so there is a good chance I will be cheering for them too.

I'm looking forward to some good softball action either way!

Sports Talk Social - @bozz.sports

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All pictures/screenshots taken by myself or @mrsbozz unless otherwise sourced