Northern Illinois Wins Regular Season Championship
Cleveland, Ohio (May 8, 2000) -- The seedings for the 2000 Mid-American Conference
softball tournament have been set following Saturday's final
regular-season games. The double elimination tournament gets
underway this Thursday (May 11), at 10 a.m. CDT in DeKalb, Illinois.
Northern Illinois, who won the MAC West Division title and clinched
the No. 1 seed with a conference record of 19-3, will play host to
the 2000 MAC Tournament. This is the second year in a row Northern
Illinois has won the regular-season MAC title and hosted the tournament.
Central Michigan, which is making its ninth-straight appearance in the
MAC tournament, won the tournament last year by defeating Northern
Illinois in the championship game 3-0. Central Michigan is the
No. 3 seed for the second-straight season.
The first game (May 11, 10 a.m. CDT) will feature Central
Michigan versus No. 6 Ball State. The winner will meet No. 2 seed
Bowling Green on Thursday at 3 p.m. Bowling Green tied with Marshall
for the 2000 MAC East Division title, but won the tiebreaker by taking
two of three games from the Thundering Herd earlier in the season.
Marshall will be making its first-ever appearance in the MAC tournament. The second game (May 13, 12:30 p.m CDT) will feature No. 4 Marshall against No. 5 Akron. The winner will face No. 1 seed Northern Illinois on Thursday at 5:30 p.m.
The top three teams in each division made the tournament
with the division champions earning the top two seeds. The 3-6
seeds were based on overall conference winning percentage. The
winner of the MAC will receive an automatic berth into the NCAA
Tournament. The tournament bracket is as follows:
MAC Softball Tournament (at Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, Ill.)
Thursday, May 11 - Saturday, May 13, 2000
All Times listed are Central Daylight Times
Thursday, May 11
Game 1: #3 Central Michigan vs. #6 Ball State, 10 a.m.
Game 2: #4 Marshall vs. #5 Akron, 12:30 p.m.
Game 3: #2 Bowling Green vs. Game 1 Winner, 3 p.m.
Game 4: #1 Northern Illinois vs. Game 2 Winner, 5:30 p.m.
Friday, May 12
Game 5: Game 2 Loser vs. Game 3 Loser, 10 a.m.
Game 6: Game 1 Loser vs. Game 4 Loser, 12: 30 p.m.
Game 7: Game 3 Winner vs. Game 4 Winner, 3 p.m.
Game 8: Game 5 Winner vs. Game 6 Winner, 5:30 p.m.
Saturday, May 13
Game 9: Game 7 Loser vs. Game 8 Winner, 11 a.m.
Game 10: Game 7 Winner vs. Game 9 Winner, 1:30 p.m.
Game 11: Game 10 participants if necessary, 30 minutes after game 10
has concluded