OKLAHOMA CITY – The top-seeded Mid-America Christian softball team is ready to battle for its first ever national championship as the Evangels will be competing at the National Christian College Athletic Association (NCCAA) World Series being played at the JB "Red" Owens Complex in Easley, S.C. from May 18-20.
The tournament will consist of six of the top teams in the NCCAA, which includes four regional qualifiers and two at-large berths.
For the first time ever, Mid-America Christian will be competing at the event as the No. 1 seed, qualifying out of the Central Region after finishing the regular season and Sooner Athletic Conference Tournament with a 33-14 record, which included turning in its best ever record in SAC play at 21-9. MACU boasted the best record out of all the teams the competed in the Central Region to earn the region's automatic qualifier.
The Evangels will open the event on Tuesday against No. 5 seed Trinity Baptist (Fla.), who comes into the tourney with a 4-31 record after receiving an at-large berth after falling to Carolina (N.C.) 6-5, 3-1 in the NCCAA South Region Championships. MACU will face off against the Eagles at 2:30 p.m. (1:30 p.m. CST).
Mid-America Christian will then be matched up against fourth-seeded Oakland City (Ind.) to wrap up pool play on Wednesday. The Mighty Oaks were the Mideast Region qualifier after closing out the regular season with a 16-26 overall record and advanced after taking two out of three games against Alice Lloyd (Ky.) in the NCCAA Mideast Regional. That matchup is slated for a 10 a.m. (9 a.m. CST) start.
After the completion of pool play, the Evangels will either compete in the fifth-place game slated for 12 p.m. (11 a.m. CST) or one of the two semifinal games scheduled for 2:30 p.m. (1:30 p.m. CST) or 4:30 p.m. (3:30 p.m. CST).
The winners of the two semifinals will then compete in the championship game on Thursday with the opening pitch slated for 1 p.m. (12 p.m. CST).
The Evangels will be competing at the NCCAA Softball World Series for the third time in the program's history. MACU qualified for the event for the first time in 2016 as an at-large when it put together a 30-23 record heading into the tourney. However, the Evangels fell to Belhaven (Miss.) 5-1 and Judson (Ill.) 7-1 before ending their tournament run with a 4-0 defeat to Central Baptist (Ark.).
Mid-America Christian qualified again as an at-large in 2018 when it strung together its best record in the regular season prior to the 2021 campaign, going 39-20. Unfortunately, the Evangels were unable to pick up a win at nationals, falling 9-3 to Cincinnati Christian (Ohio) before dropping back-to-back tightly contested matchups against Warner (Fla.) 2-1 and 4-3.
For complete coverage of the 2021 NCCAA Softball World Series, click on the link below.
NCCAA Softball World Series Home Page
