INDIANAPOLIS - Feels good to be back. For just the second time in program history, Northwest Nazarene softball has earned a berth into the NCAA Championships Tournament.

After arguably the greatest regular season in NNU softball history, the Nighthawks received an at-large bid into the West Regional. NNU is the three-seed and will open against six-seed Central Washington at 2:30 p.m. PT on Wednesday in Irvine, Calif. The other teams in the region are top seed and host Concordia Irvine, two-seed Biola, four-seed Western Washington, and five-seed Hawaii Hilo.

The regional will be from Wednesday, May 19 to Saturday, May 22 at CUI's Eagles Field in Irvine. Despite not playing many nonconference games this year, NNU was able to travel to California one weekend and split a series with the top-seeded Concordia Irvine back on April 9 and 10. 

GNAC foe Western Washington is the other team in the regional that NNU has faced this year, splitting six games between a regular-season series and the GNAC Championships. The Nighthawks were supposed to also play a series against Central Washington that got canceled. 

As mentioned, this is just the second time that NNU has reached the NCAA postseason, with the other occasion coming in 2018 when the Nighthawks earned the auto bid from the GNAC after taking the conference championship. NNU will still be looking for their first NCAA tournament win, however, as they fell to Chico State and UC San Diego in their two games that season.

NNU was the GNAC regular-season champion and enters the tournament with a 30-12 overall record. The Nighthawks lead the conference and rank 16th nationally with a .334 batting average, tops among all participating tournament teams. NNU also ranks among the Division II top-30 in doubles (78), fielding percentage (.970), home runs (42), on-base percentage (.420), shutouts (12) and slugging percentage (.521).

Senior Brittany Genuardi, the GNAC Player of the Year and one of three First Team NFCA All-West Region selections, enters the tournament with a .541 batting average. Freshman Sidney Booth, the conference Pitcher of the Year and a First Team NFCA All-West Region selection, is second in the GNAC with a 1.76 earned run average and leads the conference with 15 wins and is 22nd in Division II with 163 strikeouts. She also ranks fourth with a .385 batting average.

Live links for video and stats will be added to the online schedule as they come available. A full preview of the regional will be posted on nnusports.com later this week.

NCAA DIVISION II WEST REGIONAL
at Eagles Field, Irvine, California
Wednesday, May 19
Game 1: No. 4 Western Washington vs. No. 5 Hawaii Hilo, Noon
Game 2: No. 3 Northwest Nazarene vs. No. 6 Central Washington, 2:30 p.m.
Game 3: Loser Game 1 vs. Loser Game 2 (Elimination Game), 5 p.m.

Thursday, May 20
Game 4: Winner Game 1 vs. No. 1 Concordia Irvine, Noon
Game 5: Winner Game 2 vs. No. 2 Biola, 2:30 p.m.
Game 6: Loser Game 4 vs. Loser Game 5 (Elimination Game), 5 p.m.

Friday, May 21
Game 7: Winner Game 4 vs. Winner Game 5, Noon
Game 8: Winner Game 3 vs. Winner Game 6 (Elimination Game), 2:30 p.m.
Game 9: Loser Game 7 vs. Winner Game 8 (Elimination Game), 5 p.m.

Saturday, May 22
Game 10: Winner Game 7 vs. Winner Game 9, Noon
Game 11: Winner Game 10 vs. Loser Game 10 (if necessary), 2:30 p.m.