The 2019 National Invitational Softball Championship (NISC) began on May 16, 2019 and concluded on May 26.
Tournament play and team selection
The NISC tournament is designed to feature forty-eight teams in eight six-team regional tournaments with the regional champions advancing to a National Finals tournament. The regionals and the Finals are double-elimination competitions.
For the inaugural tournament, only fifteen of the thirty-two NCAA conferences sent an automatic qualifier (AQ). Seven schools having non-losing records and RPIs in the top 100 entered the tournament with "National RPI" bids. Four other teams with non-losing records against challenging schedules were added as "At-large" teams. The twenty-six teams were placed in six regional tournaments of four or five teams. The six regional champions advanced to the national finals at Liberty University, a site that was determined after the regional competitions.
Participants Conference School Best finish Reference Sun Belt Appalachian State 1st Appearance OVC Eastern Kentucky Championship Round (2018) Mountain West Fresno State 1st Appearance A-10 George Washington 1st Appearance Big 12 Iowa State 1st Appearance MAC Kent State 1st Appearance ASUN Liberty Champions (2017) WCC Loyola Marymount Champions (2018) Conference USA Marshall 1st Appearance Southland McNeese State 1st Appearance Conference USA Middle Tennessee 1st Appearance Mountain West Nevada Regionals (2017, 2018) Big Ten Purdue 1st Appearance Big Ten Rutgers 1st Appearance Summit League South Dakota 1st Appearance Summit League South Dakota State Regionals (2018) Southland Stephen F. Austin Regionals (2018) Big West UC Riverside Championship Round (2018) Sun Belt UT Arlington Championship Round (2018)
Regionals Sources:
Nevada Regional
Stephan F. Austin Regional
Iowa State Regional
Liberty Regional
Regional Standings Source:
The six regional tournaments were played May 16–18, 2019.
The regional and finals competitions were double-elimination tournaments.
NISC Region († = host) Place 1 Reno, NV 2 Nacogdoches, TX 3 Ames, IA 4 Lynchburg, VA1st Loyola Marymount Lions Texas–Arlington Mavericks Iowa State Cyclones † Liberty Lady Flames † 2nd Nevada Wolf Pack † McNeese State Cowgirls Purdue Boilermakers Marshall Thundering Herd 3rdt Fresno State Bulldogs Stephen F. Austin Ladyjacks † South Dakota State Jackrabbits Kent State Golden Flashes 4th UC Riverside Highlanders Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders Eastern Kentucky Colonels George Washington Colonials 5th South Dakota Coyotes Rutgers Scarlet Knights6th Appalachian State Mountaineers
Championship Bracket Participants School Conference Record (Conference) Head coach Championship Round Appearances† (including 2019) Championship Round Best finish†* Championship Round W-L Record† (excluding 2019) Iowa State Big 12 Conference 35-23 (7-11) Jamie Pinkerton 1(last: 2019) 0-0 Liberty Atlantic Sun Conference 40-20 (16-5) Dot Richardson 2nd(last: 2017) 1st (2017) 5-1 Loyola Marymount West Coast Conference 39-19 (11-4) Sami Strinz-Ward 2nd(last: 2018) 1st (2018) 5-1 UT Arlington Sun Belt Conference 33-27 (17-10) Peejay Brun 2nd(last: 2018) 4th (2018) 0-2
Bracket The third annual National Invitational Softball Championship finals were played May 24–26, 2018 at TC Colorado Field in Fort Collins, Colorado. Teams were seeded by their RPIs.
Championship Game
School Top Batter Stats. UTA Mavericks Aileen Garcia (1B) 2-4 2RBIs Iowa State Cyclones Taylor Nearad (CF) 1-2 RBI
School Pitcher IP H R ER BB SO AB BF UTA Mavericks Randi Phillips 4.1 3 3 2 3 1 15 19 UTA Mavericks Allie Gardiner (W) 2.2 1 0 0 0 2 8 9 Iowa State Cyclones Savannah Sanders 3.1 4 2 1 2 0 14 18 Iowa State Cyclones Emma Hylen (L) 2.2 4 2 0 2 1 11 13
References