BURNSVILLE, Minn. – The 2021 NSIC Softball Tournament bracket has been set as regular season play concluded Sunday afternoon. The top ten teams in the final regular-season standings will participate in the double-elimination tournament, which will be held May 13-15 at RYFSA Complex in Rochester, Minnesota.
The No. 9 Beavers went on quite a winning run, taking six of their last seven games to finish out the regular season 22-20 overall and 15-13 in conference play.
Entering the day, Minot State was sitting in the 10th and final postseason spot but the Beavers moved up to 8th place with their successful road trip, winning three out of four over the weekend at Bemidji State and Minnesota-Crookston, and will face No. 9 Sioux Falls to open the NSIC Tournament on Thursday, May 13 in Rochester, Minnesota at 10 a.m.
The Beavers qualify for the NSIC Tournament for the fourth straight season that the event has been held and finished above .500 in conference play for the first time since 2014.
Augustana earned the number one seed after winning the
NSIC Regular Season Championship with its 28-2 league record. The league championship marks the fourth title for the Vikings and their first since 2015.
Day one match-ups are listed below:
| Time |
Field |
Teams |
| Thursday, May 13, 2021 |
| 10 a.m. |
Field A |
(8) Minot State vs. (9) Sioux Falls |
| 10 a.m. |
Field B |
(7) SMSU vs. (10) Northern State |
| 12 p.m. |
Field A |
(4) Minnesota Duluth vs. (5) Concordia-St. Paul |
| 12 p.m. |
Field B |
(3) Winona State vs. (6) St. Cloud State |
| 2 p.m. |
Field A |
(1) Augustana vs. Lower Seed of game 1&2 winner |
| 2 p.m. |
Field B |
(2) Minnesota State vs. Higher Seed of game 1&2 winner |
The winner of the NSIC Softball Tournament will earn an automatic bid to the
NCAA Central Region Tournament. The 42-team NCAA Central Region is made up of teams from the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference, the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MIAA), and the Great American Conference (GAC). Automatic bids are awarded to the tournament champions from each conference with the final three spots awarded on an at-large basis. In all, six teams will advance to the NCAA Regional Tournament.
The NCAA softball selections will be announced on www.NCAA.com on Monday, May 17 at 9 a.m. (CT). The NCAA Championships are set for May 27-31 at Regency Athletic Complex hosted by Metro State University of Denver.
About Minot State
Minot State University is a member of the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC) and NCAA Division II offering 14 men's and women's varsity intercollegiate athletics programs. The NSIC is a premier NCAA DII, 16-member conference featuring teams in North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, Nebraska, and Iowa. The Beavers are the only public NCAA Division II institution in the state of North Dakota.
