MARSHALL, Texas - The Belhaven Softball team is ready for their first ever appearance in the NCAA Division III Women's College World Series, set to begin on Thursday, and the program has new heights and achievements in mind as they take the field over the next week.

ROAD TO MARSHALL

The road to Marshall, Texas, host of the 2024 Division III Women's College World Series, has been one filled with tough tests and adversity. Yet the Belhaven Softball team has surpassed all previous achievements in the Division III era for the program and stands as one of the last eight teams remaining in the country.

After a disappointing close to the Collegiate Conference of the South tournament, which saw the Blazers fall in the championship round of the tournament and unable to repeat as champions, Belhaven turned their attention to the NCAA Tournament and a hopeful at-large bid.

The Blazers earned their fourth straight berth to an NCAA Regional and headed to a new venue, St. Louis, to compete in the regional hosted by Washington University. As they've done in each of the past two seasons, Belhaven cruised through the Regional round, sweeping the four team bracket and advancing to a Super Regional for a third straight campaign.

The Super Regional, unlike the Regional, brought about a familiar foe, as the Blazers traveled back to Georgia for a rematch of their 2023 Super Regional against Berry College. Looking to flip the script from last season, the Blazers opened up the Mt. Berry Super Regional with a 10-1 run-rule victory to put them within a game of the Women's College World Series. 

Berry hit back in Game Two and sent the series to a winner-take-all final game. Tied at 2-2 through seven innings, the game headed to extras with both teams looking for a hero. As Kennedy Carruth kept Berry off the board in the 8th and the top of the 9th, it was Belhaven who would punch their ticket to the Division III Softball Championship as Anna Caime hit a walk-off solo home run that gave Belhaven a 3-2 win in nine innings.
 

WORLD SERIES FORMAT

The Division III Women's College World Series is broken into a pair of four-team brackets, determined by a re-seeding of the remaining teams. The Blazers are ranked 6th of the remaining eight teams and are in a bracket with 2nd seed ETBU, 3rd seed Case Western Reserve, and 7th seed Rowan. The other bracket holds top seed Linfield, 4th seed Wisconsin-Oshkosh, 5th seed Virginia Wesleyan and 8th seed Tufts.

Belhaven will open play against No. 3 seed Case Western Reserve on Thursday at 6:30 PM. Depending on the outcome of that game, the Blazers will then face either the winner or loser of No. 2 seed ETBU and No. 7 seed Rowan.

Each bracket will play a four-team, double elimination tournament, an identical format to the NCAA Regional round. After the bracket play has concluded and there are two teams remaining, those bracket winners will play in a best-of-three series for the National Championship.

THE BRACKET

No. 2 Seed - ETBU
NFCA Rank: No. 2
Overall Record: 43-2 (22-1 ASC)
Regional: Marshall Regional Champs (3-0 vs. Simmons, Texas Lutheran)
Super Regional: Marshall Super Regional Champs (2-0 vs. Williams)
Matchup Record: 10-14
Last Matchup: May 19th, 2023 (W, 4-0)

No. 3 Seed - Case Western Reserve
NFCA Rank: No. 7
Overall Record: 40-7 (16-4 UAA)
Regional: Cleveland Regional Champs (4-1 vs. Penn St. Behrend, Dominican, Calvin)
Super Regional: Cleveland Super Regional (2-0 vs. Coe)
Matchup Record: 0-0
Last Matchup: n/a

No. 7 Seed - Rowan
NFCA Rank: No. 13
Overall Record: 39-8 (16-2 NJAC)
Regional: Glassboro Regional (3-0 vs. Centenary, MIT)
Super Regional: Glassboro Super Regional (2-1 vs. Christopher Newport)
Matchup Record: 0-1
Last Matchup: March 3rd, 2023 (L, 7-8)

HOW TO FOLLOW

Live Stats
Live Stream
Championship Central
World Series Bracket Notes
Championship Bracket
Tickets

Belhaven opens up play on Thursday against Case Western Reserve at Taylor Field at Bell Park in Marshall, Texas at 6:30 PM.

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