After a one-year absence, the Concord Softball team is back in the WVIAC Tournament.
The Lady Lions are seeded 11th in the 12-team, double-elimination playoffs, which begin Thursday, April 29th at Jackson Park in Vienna, WV.
Concord meets #6 seed West Virginia State in an opening-round game at 10:00 am EDT.
A win advances Concord (21-24, 9-17 WVIAC) to a meeting with #3 seed Charleston at noon.
A loss relegates the Lady Lions to an elimination game against either top-seed and defending champion West Virginia Wesleyan, #8 Seton Hill, or #9 Wheeling Jesuit, at 6:00 pm.
The Lady Lions' 11th-place regular-season finish this year is their highest since the second of back-to-back 8th-place showings in 2003.
Concord and West Virginia State (31-21, 17-9) met once this season – the Yellow Jackets swept a doubleheader, 6-3 and 8-0, in Institute, WV on March 6th.
The two teams have met four times in the WVIAC Tournament since 1995, with each side winning twice.
Concord triumphed 9-3 in 1999 and 4-2 in 2002, while WVSU won 11-3 in 2004 and 8-0 in 2008. The Yellow Jackets would go on to win the '08 championship. Concord is seeking is first conference title.
Concord is 19-28 in the WVIAC Tournament since 1995 and 7-12 since the playoffs moved to Vienna in 2003.
The Lady Lions' return to the tournament marks another milestone in head coach Sabrina McCullough's rebuilding program. Last season, McCullough's first in Athens, CU finished 1-32, capping a three-year stretch in which the Lady Lions won just eight of 96 games.
In 2010, with a starting lineup featuring eight freshmen and a junior, it took Concord just 17 games to get eight wins. The Lady Lions got to 20 victories by defeating Ohio Valley on April 17th.
NOTE: Concord's scheduled regular season doubleheader against Alderson-Broaddus on Sunday, April 25th was cancelled due to wet grounds at CU's home field in Athens.
