BOISE, Idaho — Northwest Nazarene is headed to the NCAA Division II Softball Championship for the fourth season in a row. The Nighthawks are also hosting one of the opening-weekend regional pods for the first time in program history.
NNU earned the No. 2 seed in the West Region and will host a four-team pod at Bobby Welch Halle Field in Nampa between Thursday and Saturday.
The Nighthawks ranked as high as No. 13 nationally this year and captured their fourth-straight GNAC regular-season title. NNU looks to advance to the Super Regionals for the first time ever after coming one game short last season.
No. 2 NNU (39-10) is set to face No. 7 Saint Martin's (26-20) in Thursday's second game at 4 p.m. The other two teams in the pod, No. 3 Concordia Irvine (39-12) and No. 6 Cal State Dominguez Hills (35-19), open the action at 1:30 p.m. Thursday.
The regional matchup marks the eighth meeting of the season between NNU and Saint Martin's. The Nighthawks have gone 6-1 against the Saints, including an 8-0 mercy-rule victory on May 3.
"It says we have some pretty good players, but it also says that our culture is really a big deal to us," NNU head coach Rich Wagner said. "These kids have worked really, really hard over the course of the last, you know, seven, eight, nine years to build something special here. Immediately when someone shows up, they feel something a little bit different."
Whoever wins the double-elimination tournament in Nampa will face the other West Region winner, taking place at Western Washington, in a best-of-three Super Regional series.
This is the first time an NNU program has hosted rounds of the NCAA tournament since the baseball team hosted the West Regional in 2021. It marks the fifth NCAA softball regional berth in program history.
NNU fell to Western Washington, the top-seeded team in the west, 4-0 in the GNAC Championship on May 4. The pod hosted by the Vikings also includes No. 4 Cal State San Marcos, No. 5 Cal State East Bay and No. 8 Azusa Pacific.
Click here for the full regional schedule, ticket and fan information more.
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