Renae Hartl
Regular season champion Luther is host for the Iowa Conference softball tournament beginning Friday in Decorah. The top six teams in the regular season race make the field.
It is the second straight year the league has used a single elimination format and Luther coach Renae Hartl says it helps the conference get more teams into the NCAA regionals.
“We really evaluated that process as a group of coaches and athletic directors in the league”, said Hartl. “We really felt like having those second, third and fourth place teams coming out of the conference tournament with one loss instead of two has really helped us on a national stage when the committee looks at our league.”
Luther is 34-2 after claiming a second straight regular season crown and Hartl says the Norse view the post season as a new challenge.
“We have just gone and pacticed everyday as if the next day is the last day we get to play softball. I think this group just wants to play softball as long as they can.”
The top seeded Norse and second seeded Simpson both earned a bye into Saturday’s semifinal round. Friday’s opening round games feature Central against Coe and Buena Vista plays Wartburg.
Darin Svenson at KDEC contributed to this story