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Historic week for PacWest athletic programs as 7 teams vie for NCAA II Championships
Historic week for PacWest as 7 teams vie for NCAA II
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Live Broadcast of all Sub-Regional Games from HPU
PHOENIX, AZ – Seven may be the proverbial lucky number in many types of recreational games, but for the Pacific West Conference the number seven has become a bona fide jackpot.
Seven PacWest athletic teams will continue their journey toward a possible NCAA Division II National Championship this week in the sports of baseball, softball and women’s tennis in an unprecedented armada in the history of the conference.
Hawai‘i Pacific is leading the charge with representatives in all three sports. The Sea Warriors learned on Sunday, May 9, that they had become the first PacWest baseball team to earn a berth in the NCAA Division II National Championship Tournament.
HPU will battle UC San Diego in the opening round of the four-team
regional on Thursday, May 13, in Compton, CA.
On Monday, May 10, HPU, Hawai‘i Hilo, Dixie State and Grand Canyon snagged half of the eight-team NCAA Division II West Regional field giving the conference a record-setting four teams in the tournament.
The eight-team regional will be split into a pair of sub-regional tournaments starting this Friday, May 14.
As the #1 seed in the field, HPU will host one sub-regional. The
Sea Warriors will square off vs. #8 Central Washington at 2 p.m.
HT, while #5 Hawai‘i Hilo will tackle #4 Cal State Monterey
Bay at 11 a.m. HT in the opening contest.
The two winners will meet at 11 a.m. on Saturday, May 15, while the two losers will battle at 2 p.m. in the first elimination contest.
The winner from Saturday’s second game will face the loser of Saturday’s first game at 5 p.m. on Saturday evening in the second elimination contest.
The championship round will take place on Sunday, May 16. All games will be played at Howard A. Okita Field on HPU’s Hawai‘i Loa Campus.
The tournament winner advances to the NCAA II Super Regional held May 21-23, with a trip to the College World Series at stake.
Across the Pacific Ocean in Rohnert Park, CA, #3 Grand Canyon and #7 Dixie State will partake in the other softball sub-regional at Sonoma State.
The Red Storm will battle #2 Sonoma State on Friday at 4 p.m. PDT
on Seawolf Field, while the tournament kicks off at 1:30 p.m. PDT
when Grand Canyon and #6 Chico State battle.
With PacWest teams ranked first, third, fifth and seventh, no conference teams will meet until the second round. The possibility exists that all four conference clubs could start the NCAA II West Region Tournament with victories.
Hawai‘i Pacific and BYU-Hawaii could be on a collision course in women’s tennis. Both clubs are in Altamonte Springs, FL, preparing to compete in the Round of 16 at the NCAA II Women’s Tennis Championship Tournament.
HPU, the runner-up for the PacWest title, takes on Concordia (NY) out of the East Coast Conference on Wednesday at 8 a.m. EDT.
If the Sea Warriors win, they will face the winner of Grand Valley and California (PA) on Thursday at 9 a.m. EDT in the quarterfinals.
The semifinals and championship will be held on Friday, May 14, and Saturday, May 15, respectively. BYU-Hawaii - the PacWest Champion - faces Clayton State of Georgia in the Round of 16 at 10:30 a.m. EDT on the opposite side of the bracket.
If the Seasiders win, they will battle the survivor of Northwood (MI) and Queens (NY) on Thursday at 9 a.m. EDT in the quarterfinals.
BYU-Hawaii and HPU can only meet in the national championship match on Saturday.
