Virginia Wesleyan Enters as Top Seed
FOREST, Va. --- Weather may have forced the ODAC regular season to extend by a few days, but that didn't keep ODAC teams from putting together an outstanding field for the upcoming ODAC Softball Tournament.
Virginia Wesleyan College, the number one team in the country by the NFCA, enters the ODAC Tournament as the top seed riding a 23-game winning streak and boasting a gaudy 39-1 overall record that includes a perfect 20-0 march thru league play. But the Marlins' profile is not alone in impressing conference softball fans.
All eight teams headed to the James I. Moyer Sports Complex in Salem, Va., have won no fewer than 22 games and posted at least a .600 winning percentage. Both numbers are believed to be records for a tournament field in ODAC softball history.
RELATED: Interactive Bracket | Tournament Website
Wednesday's final two regular season games played a significant role in determining the assignment of the top-four seeds in the tournament. After sweeping Bridgewater College, Randolph-Macon College put itself into a tie with Guilford College for the second seed. The Yellow Jackets (31-7, 14-6) prevailed on the second step of the tiebreaker, carrying its national #16 ranking to the second spot in the conference field. The Quakers (29-11, 14-6) will play as the three seed.
Emory & Henry College (29-11, 13-7) occupies the fourth seed and joins VWC, R-MC, and GC as designated home teams in in the first sets of games on Friday in Salem.
Lynchburg College (27-13, 12-8) will square off with Emory & Henry as the fifth seed, while Roanoke College (23-15, 11-9) takes on Guilford as the sixth seed. Eastern Mennonite University (22-14, 9-11) earned the seventh seed over Randolph College (24-16, 9-11) via its head-to-head sweep of the WildCats in the regular season. The Royals meet Randolph-Macon in their opening contest, while eighth-seeded Randolph takes on Virginia Wesleyan to begin tourney play.
The double-elimination tournament begins on Friday, April 28 and continues through Sunday, April 30. All games will be played at the Moyer Sports Complex in Salem.
Listed below is the entire schedule for the 2017 ODAC Softball Tournament, which is subject to change in the case of inclement weather. For more information, visit any of the participating schools' websites and stop by the ODAC tournament website. Don't forget to become a fan of the ODAC on Facebook and follow @odacathletics on Twitter and Instagram.
2017 ODAC SOFTBALL TOURNAMENT
James I. Moyer Sports Complex - Salem, Va.
Friday, April 28
Game 1: #1 Virginia Wesleyan vs. #8 Randolph - Field 1 - 12:00 p.m.
Game 2: #4 Emory & Henry vs. #5 Lynchburg - Field 3 - 12:00 p.m.
Game 3: #2 Randolph-Macon vs. #7 Eastern Mennonite - Field 1 - 2:00 p.m.
Game 4: #3 Guilford vs. #6 Roanoke - Field 3 - 2:00 p.m.
Game 5: Loser G1 vs. Loser G2 - Field 1 - 5:00 p.m.
Game 6: Loser G3 vs. Loser G4 - Field 3 - 5:00 p.m.
Game 7: Winner G1 vs. Winner G2 - Field 1 - 7:00 p.m.
Game 8: Winner G3 vs. Winner G4 - Field 3 - 7:00 p.m.
Saturday, April 29
Game 9: Winner G5 vs. Loser G8 - Field 1 - 11:00 a.m.
Game 10: Winner G6 vs. Loser G7 - Field 3 - 11:00 a.m.
Game 11: Winner G7 vs. Winner G8 - Field 1 - 2:00 p.m.
Game 12: Winner G9 vs. Winner G10 - Field 1 - 5:00 p.m.
Game 13: Winner G12 vs. Loser G11 - Field 1 - 8:00 p.m.
Sunday, April 30
Championship Game
Game 14: Winner G11 vs. Winner G13 - Field 1 - 1:00 p.m.
If necessary...
Game 15: Rematch of Game 14 - Field 1 - 4:00 p.m.
Games 2, 4, 6, 8 and 10 played on Field 3. All other games on Field 1.