2019 National Invitational Softball Championship
College softball tournament
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The 2019 National Invitational Softball Championship (NISC) began on May 16, 2019 and concluded on May 26.[1]
| Season | 2019 |
|---|---|
| Teams | 19 |
| Format | Double Elimination |
| Finals site | TC Colorado Field, Fort Collins, Colorado |
| Champions | UT Arlington (1st title) |
| Runner-up | Iowa State (1st title game) |
| Winning coach | Peejay Brun (1st title) |
| MVP | Aileen Garcia (UT Arlington) |
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.[2]
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.[3]
Participants
| Conference | School | Best finish | Reference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sun Belt | Appalachian State | 1st Appearance | [4] |
| OVC | Eastern Kentucky | Championship Round (2018) | |
| Mountain West | Fresno State | 1st Appearance | [4] |
| A-10 | George Washington | 1st Appearance | [4] |
| Big 12 | Iowa State | 1st Appearance | [4] |
| MAC | Kent State | 1st Appearance | [4] |
| ASUN | Liberty | Champions (2017) | |
| WCC | Loyola Marymount | Champions (2018) | |
| Conference USA | Marshall | 1st Appearance | [4] |
| Southland | McNeese State | 1st Appearance | [4] |
| Conference USA | Middle Tennessee | 1st Appearance | [4] |
| Mountain West | Nevada | Regionals (2017, 2018) | |
| Big Ten | Purdue | 1st Appearance | [4] |
| Big Ten | Rutgers | 1st Appearance | [4] |
| Summit League | South Dakota | 1st Appearance | [4] |
| 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:[5]
Nevada Regional
| First round | Regional Semi-Finals | Regional finals | |||||||||||
| Fresno State | 18 | ||||||||||||
| UC Riverside | 10 | ||||||||||||
| Fresno State | 3 | ||||||||||||
| Nevada | 8 | ||||||||||||
| Nevada | 4 | ||||||||||||
| Loyola Marymount | 3 | ||||||||||||
| Nevada | |||||||||||||
| Loyola Marymount | |||||||||||||
| Lower round 1 | Lower final | ||||||||||||
| Fresno State | 5 | ||||||||||||
| UC Riverside | 0 | Loyola Marymount | 8 | ||||||||||
| Loyola Marymount | 10 | ||||||||||||
Stephan F. Austin Regional
| First round | Regional Semi-Finals | Regional finals | |||||||||||
| Stephen F. Austin | 0 | ||||||||||||
| UT Arlington | 7 | ||||||||||||
| UT Arlington | 5 | ||||||||||||
| McNeese State | 3 | ||||||||||||
| Middle Tennessee | 3 | ||||||||||||
| McNeese State | 7 | ||||||||||||
| UT Arlington | |||||||||||||
| McNeese State | |||||||||||||
| Lower round 1 | Lower final | ||||||||||||
| McNeese State | 3 | ||||||||||||
| Stephen F. Austin | 4 | Stephen F. Austin | 1 | ||||||||||
| Middle Tennessee | 0 | ||||||||||||
Iowa State Regional
| First round | Second Round | Regional semifinals | Regional finals | |||||||||||||||
| 1 | Iowa State | 6 | ||||||||||||||||
| 4 | South Dakota | 3 | Purdue | 1 | ||||||||||||||
| 5 | Purdue | 4 | Iowa State | 7 | ||||||||||||||
| South Dakota State | 2 | |||||||||||||||||
| 2 | South Dakota State | 8 | ||||||||||||||||
| 3 | Eastern Kentucky | 6 | ||||||||||||||||
| Iowa State | 5 | |||||||||||||||||
| Purdue | 3 | |||||||||||||||||
| Lower round 1 | Lower round 2 | Lower final | ||||||||||||||||
| South Dakota State | 1 | |||||||||||||||||
| Eastern Kentucky | 1 | Purdue | 4 | |||||||||||||||
| South Dakota | 2 | Purdue | 3 | |||||||||||||||
| Eastern Kentucky | 7 | |||||||||||||||||
Liberty Regional
| First round | Second Round | Regional semifinals | Regional finals | |||||||||||||||
| Liberty | 1 | |||||||||||||||||
| Appalachian State | 1 | Rutgers | 0 | |||||||||||||||
| Rutgers | 2 | Liberty | 4 | |||||||||||||||
| Kent State | 0 | |||||||||||||||||
| George Washington | 2 | |||||||||||||||||
| George Washington | 4 | Kent State | 7 | |||||||||||||||
| Marshall | 1 | |||||||||||||||||
| Liberty | 7 | |||||||||||||||||
| Marshall | 0 | |||||||||||||||||
| Lower round 1 | Lower round 2 | Lower final | ||||||||||||||||
| Appalachian State | 1 | |||||||||||||||||
| Kent State | 2 | |||||||||||||||||
| George Washington | 2 | |||||||||||||||||
| George Washington | 1 | Marshall | 4 | |||||||||||||||
| Marshall | 3 | |||||||||||||||||
| Marshall | 4 | |||||||||||||||||
| Rutgers | 0 | |||||||||||||||||
Regional Standings
Source: [6]
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, VA |
| 1st | 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 Knights | ||
| 6th | 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.
| First round | Semi-Finals | Championship | |||||||||||
| Iowa State | 5 | ||||||||||||
| Loyola Marymount | 6 | ||||||||||||
| Loyola Marymount | 3 | ||||||||||||
| UT Arlington | 6 | ||||||||||||
| Liberty | 8 | ||||||||||||
| UT Arlington | 9 | ||||||||||||
| UT Arlington | |||||||||||||
| Iowa State | |||||||||||||
| Lower round 1 | Lower final | ||||||||||||
| Loyola Marymount | 2 | ||||||||||||
| Iowa State | 7 | Iowa State | 5 | ||||||||||
| Liberty | 2 | ||||||||||||
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 |