BISMARCK, N.D. (NSAA) – The brackets for the 2021 North Star Athletic Association Postseason Softball Tournament are set for May 6-8. Bellevue will be this year’s conference tournament host set. The tournament takes place at The Lied Center Field in Bellevue, Neb. May 9 has been reserved as a weather make-up day
All eight teams will play in the NSAA Softball Postseason Conference Tournament, which features a double-elimination format. The seeding is based on the regular-season North Star conference record (winning percentage).
Valley City State won their second straight North Star Athletic Association conference regular-season title outright with 25-2 record (32-5 overall record). The Vikings will be the No. 1 seed in the postseason tournament.
No. 2 seed belongs to the host-team Bellevue with 21-7 NSAA conference record (35-18 overall record). Dickinson State is the No. 3 seed (30-13 overall record, 19-8 NSAA record), followed by Mayville State as a No. 4 seed (19-21 overall record, 15-13 NSAA conference record).
Dakota State holds the No. 5 seed after completing their regular-season schedule with a 18-32 overall record and 11-17 record in league contests. Viterbo is the No. 6 seed with 7-35 overall record and 7-21 NSAA record.
Waldorf (Iowa) (8-31 overall record) and Presentation (7-32 overall record) are tied for seventh in the conference standings with 6-21 NSAA record each. The Warriors own the tiebreaker after recording a victory over third-place Dickinson State to secure the No. 7 seed (the Saints will be the No. 8 seed).
The postseason tournament kicks off on Thursday morning at 10 a.m. with DaSU taking on MSU on the North Field, while VU plays DiSU on the South Field. VCSU opens their tournament’s title defense from 2019 (2020 season was canceled due to coronavirus pandemic) against PC at 12:30 p.m. on the North Field. BU plays WU at the same time on the South Field.
All eight teams will be playing two games on the first day of the tournament. The first two loser’s out games are scheduled for 3 p.m., while the other two winner’s bracket contests are scheduled for 5:30 p.m.
The tournament continues Friday with a pair of loser’s out games at 12:30 p.m., with the winners advancing to another loser’s out game at 3 p.m. A pair of undefeated teams will battle out at 3 p.m. on the North Field, with the winner advancing to the championship game set for Saturday afternoon.
There will be three teams remaining on Saturday, starting with an elimination game at 12:30 p.m. The winner of that game will advance to the championship game scheduled for 3 p.m. If the undefeated team loses in the first championship game, then the second championship game is set for 5:30 p.m.
The tournament champion receives the NSAA’s automatic berth to the NAIA Softball National Championship Opening Round, which will be played on May 17-19 on campus sites announced by the NAIA. The national opening round winners will move on to the 40th annual NAIA Softball World Series in Columbus, Ga. on May 27-June 2.
