MARSHALL, Texas – For the 14
th time in program history, the East Texas Baptist University softball program has made the NCAA Division III Tournament with an automatic qualification after winning the 2021 American Southwest Conference Tournament. As the #1 seed, they were chosen to host the Marshall, Texas Regional for the second time in a row. This will be the fifth time that ETBU has hosted the NCAA Tournament at Taylor Field.
This regional will feature teams from all over the country in #2 Salisbury University (MD), #3 Birmingham Southern College (AL), #4 University of Redlands (CA), #5 Ohio Northern University (OH), and #6 Eastern Nazarene College (MA). ETBU has only faced Birmingham Southern and Redlands in the NCAA Tournament. This regional will feature three nationally ranked teams in #4 Birmingham Southern, #7 ETBU, and #9 Salisbury.
The tournament will start on Friday, May 21, as host ETBU will take on #6 ENU at 11:00 a.m. #2 Salisbury will face #5 ONU at 1:30 p.m. and then #3 BSC takes on #4 Redlands at 4:00 p.m. The loser of game one and game two will play an elimination game at 6:30 p.m.
ETBU is 28-27 overall in the NCAA Tournament and hosted the 2019, 2017, and 2009 Marshall, Texas Regional. They also hosted the 2014 Super Regional winning the series over Claremont-Mudd-Scripps to advance to the World Series. Under head coach
Janae Shirley, ETBU has made nine NCAA Tournaments in her 14 years minus last year due to COVID-19. She has a 26-21 record, won the 2010 NCAA National Championship, and coached in two World Series (2010, 2014).
Gaining the automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament, ETBU won their 10
th ASC Championship with a 13-4 victory over the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor and are now 30-5 overall.
Marshall, Texas Regional Participants
1. East Texas Baptist (30-5)
2. Salisbury University (24-7)
3. Birmingham Southern (27-6)
4. University of Redlands (13-5)
5. Ohio Northern University (23-18)
6. Eastern Nazarene College (24-5)
