Ferris State Softball Receives NCAA Tournament Bid & Will Face GVSU In Opening Round

Click Here For Official NCAA Announcement & Brackets

Big Rapids, Mich. - The Ferris State University softball team will have an opportunity to compete in NCAA postseason action and continue its 2013 campaign as the Bulldogs received their eighth all-time national tournament bid in an announcment made Monday morning at www.ncaa.com.

Ferris State will be the number seven overall seed in the Midwest Region and compete in one of two sub-regional tournaments this weekend (May 10-12) in Allendale, Mich.  FSU will face archrival and second-seeded host Grand Valley State in the opening round of the national tournament on Friday.  More information on game times will be available soon.

In addition to FSU and GVSU, the sub-regional event will also include third-seeded Missouri-St. Louis and sixth-seeded Southern Indiana.  A double-elimination format will be held with the title game set for Sunday.

Along with the Grand Valley State sub-regional, the top-seeded team in the region, Indianapolis, will also host a Midwest Regional tournament this weekend.  The Greyhounds face Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) Tournament champion and eighth-seeded Wayne State in round one with fourth-seeded Lewis (Ill.) and fifth-seeded Ashland also in the Indianapolis sub-region.

The winners of this weekend's two four-team regional tournaments will advance to the NCAA Midwest Super Regionals set for May 17-18 at the site of the highest remaining seed for a best-of-three showdown. The winner of the super regional then moves on to the NCAA Elite Eight set for May 23-27 at the Moyer Complex in Salem, Va.

The Bulldogs have advanced to the NCAA Tournament seven previous times with FSU's last appearance in 2009 representing its fourth trip over a five-year span.  Ferris State reached the title game of the sub-Midwest Regional Touranment in '09.

Previously, Ferris State won back-to-back Great Lakes Regional Tourney titles in 1998 and 1999 before winning the regional again in 2008.  Overall, the Bulldogs have made previous NCAA appearances in 1982, 1998, 1999, 2005, 2007, 2008 and 2009.

Ferris State owns a 29-14 mark to date this campaign under first-year head coach Marie Foster and has claimed 12 of its last 15 contests overall.  The Bulldogs closed GLIAC regular-season play with a 20-6 record to receive the number two overall seed for the GLIAC Tournament where they recorded a 1-2 mark before being eliminated by Findlay on Saturday in Ohio.

Stay tuned to FerrisStateBulldogs.com for more information on the Midwest Regional as it becomes available.