INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. --- The good news -- nationally top-ranked and unbeaten Virginia Wesleyan University is the overall top seed in the Division III Softball Championship bracket. The bad news -- VWU is the only ODAC team in the field for the first time in a decade.
The NCAA announced the field of 64 teams on Monday with only one ODAC team among its ranks for the first time since Virginia Wesleyan was the lone conference qualifier in 2016. Shenandoah University just missed out on a spot with the No. 47 ranking in the NCAA Power Index (NPI). Transylvania University was ranked just above the Hornets and received the last entry to the field.
The Division III softball bracket includes 64 teams with 42 qualifying automatically as conference champions like Virginia Wesleyan. The remaining 22 entrants were determined by ranking in the NPI once all games went final on Sunday evening. The Marlins (70.415) are No. 1 in that listing by a wide margin over 2025 national champion Trine University (64.750).
All teams in a given sport -- 394 in D-III softball -- earn a NPI rating. Those NPI ratings are ranked sequentially and form a transparent method of selecting teams at-large to Division III brackets, replacing the former process of the sport championship committees selecting teams at-large based on predetermined selection criteria. Once the 42 automatic qualifiers were known, the next 22 best NPI-rated teams formed the list of at-large selected programs to fill out the bracket.
Virginia Wesleyan (45-0) is positioned in the upper-left quadrant of the bracket and will host one of 16 four-team regional pods in double-elimination competition. Broyles Field at TownBanke Park will welcome Pfeiffer University, Manhattanville University, and John Jay College to its dugouts. The Stormy Petrels (38-9) won the USA South Athletic Conference (USAS) title, while the Valiants (35-8) lifted the Skyline Conference trophy. The Bloodhounds (18-20) won the City University of New York Athletic Conference (CUNYAC) championship.
Regional play in Virginia Beach is set for Thursday-Saturday, May 14-16. VWU faces John Jay in Thursday's first game at 11:00 a.m. ET, while Pfeiffer and Manhattanville meet at 1:30 p.m. ET. Three games follow on Friday with the regional championship plus "if necessary" game on day three.
Super regionals follow regional play with the 16 regional winners playing in eight best-of-3 series. Those games are slated for Thursday-Friday, May 22.
Then we return to ODAC country as the James I. Moyer Sports Complex in Salem will crown the Division III softball champion for the 15th time. The final eight teams start play in Salem on Thursday, May 28. Those squads will compete in a pair of modified double-elimination four teams pods through Sunday, May 31. Following an off day on Monday, June 1, the remaining two teams will square off in a best-of-3 series for the Division III trophy on Tuesday-Wednesday, June 2-3.