WAVERLY, Iowa – The University of Dubuque softball team will take the seven seed into the 2021 American Rivers Conference Softball Tournament and will get the tournament underway on Thursday afternoon at the second seeded Wartburg Knights.
 
UD and Wartburg met way back on March 20^th and 21^st, for the first conference series of the season, with the Spartans taking two out of three. that three game set was a high-scoring affair, featuring 53 runs. The Knights grabbed the opener 10-9, before the Spartans rallied to take the final two games of the series 10-9 and 8-7.
 
Emily Bloomer enters the tournament leading the Spartan offense hitting .353 with an on base percentage of .402 and an OPS of .990. Morgan Turnmire has racked up the second most RBI in the conference with 34, while hitting .344 with a team-high six home runs. UD has five regular starters batting above .300 with Lauren Brown, Rachel Trader and Cayla Cavanagh joining Bloomer and Turnmire above that mark.
 
UD has used just three pitchers this season with Lexi Schmidt, Nicolette Evans and Kayla Breunig combining for a 3.61 ERA over 264.1 innings pitched. Schmidt finished the regular season with 14 wins, tied for the most in the conference and a single season school record.
 
With the conference's AQ already determined this year's tournament will serve as an opportunity for teams to improve their resume in hopes of earning one of five at-large berths to the NCAA Division III Championship. The Coe College Kohawks 23-11 (18-6 A-R-C) earned to AQ berth to the 2021 NCAA Division III Tournament after clinching the program's sixth regular season conference title last weekend.
 
Wartburg Pod Links
Live Stream: https://livestream.com/wartburgknightvision/softball2021
Live Stats: https://go-knights.net/sidearmstats/softball/summary  
 
TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE
(Subject to change)

Wednesday, May 12 | (Play-in game)
No. 8 Buena Vista vs. No. 9 Loras at Coe College (Cedar Rapids, Iowa) | Tentative - 3:00 p.m.

Thursday, May 13 and Friday, May 14
Pod 1 | Seeds 1, 4, 5 8/9 | at Coe College (Cedar Rapids, Iowa) 

Thursday, May 13
Game 1 - No. 4 Luther vs. No. 5 Simpson @ 10:00 a.m.
Game 2 - No. 8 BVU/No. 9 Loras vs. No. 1 Coe @ 12:00 p.m.
Game 3 - Loser 4/5 vs. Loser 1/(8/9) @ 2:00 p.m.
Game 4 - Winner 4/5 vs. Winner 1/(8/9) @ 4:00 p.m.

Friday, May 14
Game 5 - Game 3 winner vs. Game 4 loser @ 11:00 a.m.
Game 6 - Game 4 winner vs. Game 5 winner @ 1:00 p.m.
*Game 7 - Played if Game 5 winner WINS Game 6 @ 3:00 p.m.
*if necessary game

Pod 2 | Seeds 2, 3, 6, 7 | at Wartburg College (Waverly, Iowa)
Thursday, May 13
Game 1 - No. 6 Nebraska Wesleyan vs. No. 3 Central @ 10:00 a.m.
Game 2 - No. 7 Dubuque vs. No. 2 Wartburg @ 12:00 p.m.
Game 3 - Loser 3/6 vs. Loser 2/7 @ 2:00 p.m.
Game 4 - Winner 3/6 vs. Winner 2/7 @ 4:00 p.m.

Friday, May 14
Game 5 - Game 3 winner vs. Game 4 loser @ 11:00 a.m.
Game 6 - Game 4 winner vs. Game 5 winner @ 1:00 p.m.
*Game 7 - Played if Game 5 winner WINS Game 6 @ 3:00 p.m.
*if necessary game

Saturday, May 15 | (Championship series, best-of-three) - To be played at the pod site of highest remaining seed.
Game 1 - Pod 1 winner vs. Pod 2 winner | 12:00 p.m.
Game 2 - Pod 1 winner vs. Pod 2 winner | 2:00 p.m.

Sunday, May 16 (Championship series if necessary game) - To be played at the pod site of highest remaining seed.
Game 3 - Pod 1 winner vs. Pod 2 winner (if necessary...)
at highest seed | 1:00 p.m.