Simpson receives No. 3 seed in Indianola Regional

INDIANOLA, Iowa – The Simpson softball team earned a spot in the 2010 NCAA Division III Softball Championship, receiving the No. 3 seed in the Indianola Regional, as announced Monday.

Eight teams will visit Indianola for the regional round, which takes place May 13-17 at Simpson Softball Complex. Linfield (35-5) of McMinnville, Ore. has the top seed and plays eighth-seeded Chicago (24-13-1) in the first round. Central (24-13-1) of Pella, Iowa has the No. 5 seed and faces the No. 4 seed, Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (33-8) of Claremont, Calif.

Third-seeded Simpson (31-10) draws sixth-seeded St. Thomas (37-6) of St. Paul, Minn. The final first-round matchup features second-seeded Illinois Wesleyan (30-14) of Bloomington, Ill. against seventh-seeded Fontbonne (24-15) of St. Louis, Mo.

Play will begin at Noon each day.

This season's appearance marks the Storm's 14th in the NCAA Championship and eighth under 15th-year head coach Henry Christowski. Simpson won the Iowa Conference regular season title for the first time since 2000 and lost to Luther in the championship round of the conference tournament.