Conference Carolinas Softball Championship Preview - 10 Teams, 1 Champion

4/26/2022 3:30:00 PM

DUNCAN, S.C. – The 2022 Conference Carolinas Softball Championship will be contested over four days at Tyger River Park in Duncan, South Carolina beginning on Thursday, April 28.

The tournament gets underway at 12 p.m. on April 28 with a pair of single-elimination play-in games featuring the 7-10 seeds. No. 7 UNC Pembroke (25-15) will play No. 10 Erskine (13-26) on field four while No. 8 Lees-McRae (20-24) and No. 9 North Greenville (20-28) will play on field one. The Braves of UNC Pembroke swept the Flying Fleet of Erskine at home this season, 7-5 and 14-6, and lead the all-time series 4-2. In the other matchup, the Bobcats swept the Crusaders in Banner Elk, North Carolina on April 12, 11-5 and 9-4. North Greenville leads the all-time series 18-4 and has won 7-of-10 meetings.

The winner of the UNC Pembroke-Erskine matchup will advance to play Conference Carolinas co-regular season champion and No. 2 seed Mount Olive (39-11) at 6:30 p.m., also on field four. The Lees-McRae/North Greenville winner will play top-seed King (37-15) also on field one at 6:30 p.m. The Trojans of Mount Olive have won their last five games and 7-of-8 while the Tornado of King are riding an 11-game win streak with the last conference loss coming on April 9 at Belmont Abbey.

The double-elimination round of the bracket begins at 4:30 p.m. with No. 3 Barton (28-10) facing No. 6 Emmanuel (35-20) on field one while No. 4 Belmont Abbey (30-13) will face fifth-seed Francis Marion (29-18) on field four. In the first matchup, the Bulldogs swept the Lions on the road on March 19, 2-1 and 10-9. The two teams met in the tournament last season with the Lions coming out on top, 5-2 en route to the tournament title. The Crusaders and Patriots split their season series at Belmont Abbey with The Abbey winning game one 3-2 before falling 11-1 in game two on April 23. Francis Marion leads the all-time series 10-4 and is 6-4 in the last 10 meetings.

The quarterfinals of the championship bracket will take place at 12 p.m. on Friday, April 29 with consolation games at 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. Saturday, April 30, will feature the consolation semifinals at 12 p.m., the winner's bracket semifinal at 2 p.m. and the consolation championship at 4 p.m. The championship final is slated for 12 p.m. on Sunday, May 1 with the “if necessary” game at 2 p.m.

Fans can watch every game of the tournament live via the Conference Carolinas Digital Network and BlueFrame at conferencecarolinasdn.com. Information regarding the championship schedule, bracket and Tyger River Park are available here.

2022 Conference Carolinas Softball Championship
Tyger River Park | Duncan, South Carolina

Play-in Round – Thursday, April 28
Game 1: #8 Lees-McRae vs. #9 North Greenville, 12 p.m. (Field 1)
Game 2: #7 UNC Pembroke vs. #10 Erskine, 12 p.m. (Field 4)

First Round - Thursday, April 28
Game 3: #4 Belmont Abbey vs. #5 Francis Marion, 4:30 p.m. (Field 4)
Game 4: #3 Barton vs. #6 Emmanuel, 4:30 p.m. (Field 1)
Game 5: #1 King vs. Winner #8-#9, 6:30 p.m. (Field 1)
Game 6:#2 Mount Olive vs. Winner #7-#10, 6:30 p.m. (Field 4)

Second Round - Friday, April 29
Game 7: Winner Game 3 vs. Winner Game 5, 12 p.m. (Field 1)
Game 8: Winner Game 4 vs. Winner Game 6, 12 p.m. (Field 4)
Game 9: Loser Game 4 vs. Loser Game 5, 2 p.m. (Field 1)
Game 10: Loser Game 3 vs. Loser Game 6, 2 p.m. (Field 4)
Game 11: Loser Game 7 vs. Winner Game 9, 4 p.m. (Field 1)
Game 12: Loser Game 8 vs. Winner Game 10, 4 p.m. (Field 4)

Semifinal Round - Saturday, April 30
Game 13: Winner Game 11 vs. Winner Game 12, 12 p.m. (Field 1)
Game 14: Winner Game 7 vs. Winner Game 8, 2 p.m. (Field 1)
Game 15: Loser Game 14 vs. Winner Game 13, 4 p.m. (Field 1)

Championship - Sunday, May 1
Game 16: Winner Game 14 vs. Winner Game 15, 12 p.m. (Field 1)
Game 17: Winner Game 16 vs. Loser Game 16, 2 p.m. (Field 1; If Necessary)