COLUMBUS, GA. (May 23, 2024) - The NAIA No. 1-ranked Our Lady of the Lake University (OLLU) softball team will battle No. 8 seed Madonna University (MU) tomorrow at 7 p.m. Eastern Time in the NAIA World Series. This will be the Saints first matchup of the tournament.

Tournament overview

The Saints received the No. 1 seed out of 10 teams that qualified for the NAIA World Series. Oklahoma City University (52-3) is the two seed, followed by Central Methodist University (52-5) as the third seed, the University of the Cumberlands (47-7) as the fourth seed, Oregon Institute of Technology (47-10) as the fifth seed, the University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma (47-7) as the sixth seed, Jessup University (40-10) as the seventh seed, MU (52-4) as the eighth seed, Georgia Gwinnett College (GGC) (32-15) as the ninth seed and Southern Oregon University (40-18) as the 10th seed. This will be the Saints second time reaching the NAIA World Series after losing both games at the tournament last year. 

Saints overview

OLLU won the San Antonio Bracket in the NAIA Opening Round that they hosted at St. Mary's University from May 13-15. The Saints defeated Cottey College once and Hope International University twice. The squad outscored the opponents 7-0 in the three contests to qualify for the NAIA World Series. 

Cassandra Valdez is 26-1 in the circle with a 0.58 ERA. Both her and Ava Hernandez have pitched over 100 innings this season. Hernandez has an 18-2 record and averages just under six strikeouts per seven frames. Valdez has also shined on offense with a team-leading 15 home runs and 29 stolen bases. Kayla Dreese leads OLLU with a .428 batting average. The team has an on-base percentage of .435 and the pitching staff allows under one run per game on average. 

Madonna overview

The Crusaders hit a walk-off single in the bottom of the seventh inning to defeat GGC 1-0 on Thursday. MU advances in the winners bracket to take on the Saints while GGC drops to the losers bracket. The Crusaders are led by pitcher Maeson Schlaud, who has pitched in 252.2 out of 361.1 innings played. She boasts a 1.08 ERA with a WHIP under one. Offensively, Madonna has nine batters hitting over .300 with a minimum of 100 at-bats. Alissa Gauthier has a .422 batting average and Mackenzie Ming has smacked 10 home runs. The Crusaders went undefeated in the Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference at 22-0. They qualified for the NAIA World Series by beating Northwestern College twice in the championship games. 

Tournament information

Fans can get all the information for watching live games, following statistics, and more HERE.