Back to Marshall! 2028 D-III Softball National Championship to be hosted by ETBU
It was a national championship environment in every sense of the word. The stands were packed. Crowds gathered on the hill beyond the outfield fence and in the bleachers in left and right field. The competition on the field itself showcased the best Division III softball had to offer. That was the scene in Marshall, Texas this past June, when the Division III softball world series came to East Texas for the second straight year.
And per an announcement from the NCAA on Wednesday afternoon, it wasn’t the last time Bell Park at Taylor Field will be the final stop on the long road of a Division III softball season. The World Series is coming back to Marshall in 2028.
"We are excited to be given the opportunity to host championship softball at ETBU and bring the 2028 NCAA Division III Softball National Championship back to Marshall, Texas," Senior Vice President for Campus Life Ryan Erwin said in a press release.
"Having the privilege of hosting the National Championship in 2023 and 2024 and to see the overwhelming support from the Marshall community and the greater East Texas region, we have no doubt that the success of the tournaments the past two years were contributing factors.”
The announcement of the 2027 and 2028 NCAA championship hosts included 240 sites for every sport from football to fencing. From Division I to Division III. Yet, ETBU was the only Division III institution in Texas selected to host a national championship in the next two-year NCAA cycle.
“We are incredibly honored to have been selected to host the 2028 NCAA Division III National Softball Championship," ETBU Head Softball Coach Janae Shirley said in ETBU’s press release. "This recognition reflects our commitment to excellence in athletics and academics. We look forward to welcoming teams and fans to our campus, showcasing the spirit of competition and the vibrant community that makes our university special."
Last year’s remarkable world series was only elevated by the fact that ETBU became the first modern-day program to win a Division III softball title on their home field. The last time that happened? 1989. And with ETBU as part of the eight-team field, crowds showed up en masse. The recorded attendance on hand for Game 3 of the championship series was 1,147.
“Thinking back to six years ago when I brought it to the administration that this was something I thought our university could put on, and going through the process of getting the opportunity to host, that’s kind of what the vision was,” Shirley said at a press conference during the World Series. “To give these student-athletes the opportunity to compete in a national championship where it actually felt like a national championship.”ETBU will look to bring that same level of excitement and interest to Marshall again in 2028. Receiving the opportunity to host another national championship is a testament to the product ETBU and the City of Marshall put forth over the past two summers. 2028 will be the fourth time since 2019 that the D-III softball national title will be decided in the Lone Star State.
“It was unreal,” ETBU pitcher Madalyn Melton said during the 2024 championship series. “Looking in the stands from the mound, seeing people start “the wave” and it going all around the stadium was awesome. I’ve been to Oklahoma City (where the D1 Women’s College World Series is held) multiple times and the same atmosphere there was in Marshall on Friday night. It was really cool to see.”
As for the other notable Division III championship sites in 2027 and 2028, the majority will be in the Eastern part of the U.S. The Stagg Bowl (football’s national championship game) will return to Canton, Ohio in 2027 and Salem, Virginia in 2028. Canton hosted the 2021 Stagg Bowl and Salem hosted last year’s title game.
The men’s basketball Final Four has been moved from Fort Wayne for the next cycle, with Pittsburgh’s UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse hosting both the 2027 and 2028 events on the campus of Duquense University.
The women’s Final Four will be played in the Midwest for the first time since 2018 when it heads to Cedar Rapids, Iowa in 2027. In 2028, the women’s Final Four returns to Salem, Virginia, which is hosting the 2025 and 2026 national championships.
The Division III baseball world series will be played in York, Pennsylvania, the first time ever that a D-III baseball champion will be crowned in the state of Pennsylvania.
Numbers of the Week
18 years since LeTourneau Volleyball had beaten Mary Hardin-Baylor in Longview when the Yellowjackets pulled off the upset on Saturday in a 3-1 victory. LETU had lost its previous 21 matches against The Cru dating back to 2011 but the Yellowjackets played at a high-level this time around, as Kaci Monk, Hannah Payan, and Allison Smith all had double-digit kills and Reina Lawson tallied 29 assists.
5 goals scored by Concordia men’s soccer in the first half of last Saturday’s 6-1 victory over McMurry. The Tornadoes dominated their SCAC opener, with their largest first-half scoring total since a Sept. 5, 2022 win over Nebraska Wesleyan. Six different players scored for Concordia in Saturday’s match as the Tornadoes are now 4-1-3 overall.
0 points allowed by the TLU defense against Lyon College last weekend, as the Bulldogs recorded their first shutout since 2019. Facing Lyon for the first time, they tallied four interceptions, tying the program record in that category.
1.35 blocks per set from ETBU Volleyball’s Anita Hancock, who ranks third in the nation in that category. Hancock has tallied three total blocks in each of the Tigers’ last nine matches, as ETBU has risen to the No. 11 ranking in the AVCA Top 25 Poll.
Game of the Week: #12 Endicott at #7 Hardin-Simmons | Football | Saturday | 1:00 p.m.
Shelton Stadium hasn’t hosted, at least not in recent memory, a bigger non-conference game than this one. After HSU made the trip to Beverly, Massachusetts last season, falling to Endicott, 37-10, the Gulls now head to Abilene for the rematch. The Cowboys are 3-0, having won by lopsided margins in those first three contests, while Endicott is 4-0, with notable wins over East Coast powers Ithaca and RPI. Endicott boasts an offense led by QB Clayton Marengi, with three receivers having tallied at least 11 receptions as well as three 100+ yard rushers, one of which is Marengi. That offense will clash with HSU’s hard-nosed defensive front, who has allowed just 11.3 points per game thus far. With HSU set for a crucial ASC road test at #14 UMHB next week in Belton, this will be an important test for the Cowboys as non-conference play draws to a close. Not to mention, a win over Endicott would certainly boost HSU’s playoff resume as the Cowboys are in the hunt for a Top 8 seed in the postseason.
Other games we’ll be keeping an eye on…
ETBU at #14 UMHB | Football | Saturday | 1 p.m. | This features the nation’s top offense in ETBU against a UMHB defense that shut down UW-Whitewater two weeks ago. And it’s the ASC opener for both programs with ETBU seeking its first win over UMHB since 2003.
#22 Ithaca at #21 Trinity | Volleyball | Friday | 3:45 p.m. | New York City will play host to this Top 25 showdown as both Ithaca and Trinity fight to remain in the national rankings. This will be the first ever meeting between these two programs, as Ithaca enters with a four-match winning streak and Trinity has won its last two.
Trinity at Concordia | Men’s Soccer | Sunday | 5:00 p.m. | The biggest match in Texas D-III men’s soccer this week, unbeaten Trinity heads up IH-35 for a duel against a Concordia team that has won three of its last four. Trinity has both the top scoring attack and one of the strongest back lines in the SCAC, as the Tigers have recorded five shutouts in their last six matches.
Austin College at Texas Lutheran | Women’s Soccer | Sunday | 2:00 p.m. | AC is playing at a high-level, with a 6-0-2 record entering the weekend and the top defense in the SCAC. The ‘Roos have allowed just one goal in eight matches and are tied for second in Division III in goals-against-average. The Bulldogs’ attack has been up-tempo, however, and should provide a good test, considering TLU has found the back of the net multiple times in four of its last five contests.
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