CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa – The NCAA announced the regional brackets for the 2023 NCAA Division III Softball Tournament, Monday, May 15^th. After getting three American Rivers Conference (A-R-C) teams in the tournament a year ago, four teams are going dancing in 2023. The No. 22 Central College Dutch, No. 21 Coe College Kohawks, No. 25 Luther College Norse, and the Wartburg College Knights all saw their names pop up during the NCAA Selection Show on Monday.
 
Wartburg earned the A-R-C’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament after posting a 3-0 record during the conference tournament this past weekend to claim back-to-back conference titles. Central, Coe and Luther all picked up at-large bids to earn a spot in the 62-team field. Previews for each regional are below.
   
The Central College Dutch (31-9) earned the No. 1 seed in the regional and will open regional play on Thursday, May 18^th against the No. 4 seed Grinnell College Pioneers (29-12) out of the Midwest Conference (MWC). The first pitch is scheduled for 4:30 p.m. at the A.N. Kuyper Athletics Complex softball field. The winner will advance to take on the winner of No. 2 seed UW-La Crosse (28-13) and No. 3 seed Bethel (33-3). UW-La Crosse and Bethel open the Central College Regional with a 2:00 p.m. first pitch on Thursday.
 
The Dutch and the Pioneers met back on March 28^th this season where Central came away with a doubleheader sweep. It didn’t take the Dutch long to secure the game one victory as they cruised to a 15-1 victory, ending the game in five innings. In game two, Central was down 5-4 heading into the bottom of the seventh inning, needing at least one run to keep the game going. With the first two batters for Central getting on base via singles, Franie Burnett came up to bat and smoked a two RBI double to walk the game off and secure the sweep with a 6-5 victory.
 
The leading hitter for the Dutch is Haley Bach who has a .410 batting average through 40 games played. Third basemen, Burnett, has a team-leading 45 RBIs on the season while batting .341. In the circle for Central is the duo of Sydni Huisman and Emma Beck. Huisman has 22 appearances with 19 starts while Beck has 21 appearances and 18 starts. The duo have combined for 164 strikeouts in 195.0 innings pitched.
     
The Coe College Kohawks (31-8) earned the No. 2 seed in the regional and will open regional play on Thursday, May 18^th against the No. 3 seed Transylvania University Pioneers (33-9) out of the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference (HCAC). The first pitch is scheduled for 1:00 p.m. at the van Steenderen Softball Complex. The winner will advance to take on the winner of No. 1 seed UW-Whitewater (26-11) and No. 4 seed Spalding (29-11). UW-Whitewater and Spalding have a first pitch scheduled for Thursday at 3:30 p.m.
 
This will be the first time the Kohawks of Coe and the Pioneers of Transylvania are meeting. Coe is the 2023 American Rivers Conference Regular Season Champions after posting a 13-3 conference record this season. The leading hitter for the Kohawks is Heather Boeckenstedt who has a batting average of .378 through 39 games played. Senior Skyler Stookey has a team leading 39 runs batted in throughout the season. In the circle for Coe, Ellie Thurow has posted a 1.40 ERA in 18 appearances on the season. Thurow has a 12-3 record in the circle while striking out 78 batters.
     
The Luther College Norse (32-8) earned the No. 3 seed in the regional and will open regional play on Thursday, May 18^th against the No. 2 seed UW-Oshkosh Titans (34-7) out of the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC). The first pitch is scheduled for 1:00 p.m. at the UW-Oshkosh Softball Park. The winner will advance to take on the winner of No. 1 seed Concordia Wisconsin (37-3) and No. 4 seed UW-Superior (31-11). Concordia Wisconsin and UW-Superior have a first pitch scheduled for Thursday at 3:30 p.m.
 
This will be the first time the Norse of Luther and the Titans of UW-Oshkosh are meeting since the 2014 season. Luther finished the conference slate as runners up, earning the No. 2 seed in this year’s A-R-C Tournament. The leading hitter for the Norse is Abby Spore who has a batting average of .476 through 40 games played. Spore also has a team-best 32 RBIs, followed closely by Belle Berg with 31 RBIs. In the circle for Luther, Kendra Cooper has posted a 1.54 ERA through 26 appearances, including 24 starts. Cooper has a 21-4 record with 19 complete games and 10 shutouts. The fifth-year senior has tallied 191 strikeouts on the year.
     
The Wartburg College Knights (23-16) earned the No. 2 seed in the regional and will open regional play on Thursday, May 18^th against the No. 3 seed Millikin University Big Blue (30-9) out of the College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin (CCIW). The first pitch is scheduled for 1:00 p.m. at the SportONE/Parkview Softball Field. The winner will advance to take on the winner of No. 1 seed Trine (35-4) and No. 4 seed Waynesburg (29-8). Trine and Waynesburg have a first pitch scheduled for Thursday at 3:30 p.m.
 
The Knights are looking for revenge as the Millikin Big Blue knocked them out of the NCAA Tournament a year ago during the super regional round. In a rain-soaked weekend last year, Millikin got the best of Wartburg as they took the first two games of the super regional 9-5 and 10-6.
 
The leading hitter for the Knights is Reegan Deputy who has a batting average of .383 through 39 games played. Sydney Fellows has recorded a team-best 33 RBIs through the conference tournament, followed closely behind by Deputy and Ella Link who each have 32 RBIs. In the circle for Wartburg, Avery Mull has a team-best 3.60 ERA, followed by Ashley Nelson with a 3.63 ERA. This duo has split time in the circle throughout the season with Nelson having 30 appearances and Mull having 21 appearances. Mull and Nelson have a combined 102 strikeouts in 187.2 innings pitched.
 
   
The winners of each regional will advance to the super regionals, which will take place May 26-27 at locations to be determined. The winners of each super regional will then advance to the 2023 NCAA Division III Softball Championships at Taylor Field in Marshall, Texas from June 1-7 as East Texas Baptist serves as the host site. Each round will consist of double-elimination play.