Clearwater, FL

The Santa Fe Saints marched into Clearwater, Florida yesterday for the FCSAA Division I Softball Championships.  They completed bat testing and practice in preparation for the Wednesday nightcap game.  The Saints are seeded fifth and play in the 7:00 PM game against the fourth seeded Seminole State Raiders.  The region is one of the toughest in the nation boasting nine teams in the top 25 in the nation.  The tournament only has seeding for nine spots.  The FCSAA Division I Softball Championships started off with Gulf Coast (unranked) playing Miami Dade (#11 in the NJCAA poll) in the Wild Card game for the eighth seed.  The winner was the underdog Commodores from Gulf Coast who as their award will play the FCSAA #1 seed, Florida SouthWestern (#1 in the NJCAA poll as well) in the 3:00 PM game.  The rest of the field is also highly ranked in the NJCAA poll.  The two versus seven match up that starts the day pits Northwest Florida (#3 NJCAA) vs. Eastern Florida (#17 NJCAA) at 10:00 AM.  The next game will see Indian River (#4 NJCAA) take on Chipola (#22 NJCAA) at 1:00 PM.  The night caps is the Saints (#15 NJCAA) vs. the Seminole State Raiders (#6 NJCAA). 

The Saints look to get another win when it counts against the Raiders.  The Saints lost both games at Seminole this year and also lost their home match up on April 1st againts the Raiders, but the Saints have been an improved team since the beginning of April.  In fact, they knocked off the #1 seed and NJCAA #1 Florida SouthWestern on April 12th at home which started a five game winning streak ended by #4 NJCAA ranked Indian River.  The Saints got back on track with two must win games against Daytona State (#18 NJCAA) to solidify their spot in the FCSAA Divsion I Softball Championships.  The final game of the year, a weather make up game, against Seminole was essentially a seeding battle for the Saints.  They won the extra inning game by virtue of the FCSAA Player of the Week, Madison Conway, who hit a walk off grand slam in the bottom on the eighth.  Suffice it to say the Saints and the rest of the FCSAA are battling at the national level inning by inning and will be bringing some top level softball to the Eddie C. Moore Complex in Clearwater, Florida.  

The winner of the Saints and Raiders match up will play the winner of the #1 FSW vs. the only unranked team in the tournament Gulf Coast at 7:00 PM on Friday.  The two losers will head to the bottom bracket and play at 1:00 PM on Friday.  If the Saints stay in the winners bracket they will have a chance to finish as the FCSAA Division I and NJCAA South Atlantic District A Champion, if they lose and compete in the bottom bracket, they will have a chance to compete to be the NJCAA South Atlantic District B Champion.  Both the Atlantic A and B Champions will proceed on to the NJCAA Division I Championships in Yuma, Arizona.  

All information regarding the FCSAA Divison I Softball Championships can be found here. 

And all games are broadcast on the FCSAA website.