Story by Wyatt Ebersole

The Region VI and Plains District champion Butler Softball team was announced as the #8 seed in next week's NJCAA Division I Softball World Series when the bracket was revealed on Friday. It is the seventh straight year of the Grizzlies qualifying for the tournament and it the eighth straight time the Grizzlies have been a top-8 seed.

The Grizzlies are slated to face the #9 seeded College of Southern Idaho (CSI) Golden Eagles in the first round of the World Series on Tuesday, May 23rd at 12pm and the game will be streamed on the NJCAA Network.

CSI finished the year with a record of 45-16 and they went 28-11 in conference play. The Golden Eagles compete in the Scenic West Conference and won the Region XVIII (18) Title to advance to the national tournament. CSI finished the season unranked but reached as high as #11 in the NJCAA Softball Poll during the season. CSI defeated #12 ranked Salt Lake twice in two days to win their region title. 

The Grizzlies and Golden Eagles have not played since 2018 when the teams met in the second round of the national tournament. Butler's Makenzey Pankers hit a walk-off RBI single in the seventh to give the Grizzlies the 7-6 win. This is the only meeting between the two teams since at least 2003.

If the Grizzlies win the opening round game, they'll face off against #1 seed Odessa or #16 seed Gordon State on Wednesday at 2PM A loss for the Grizzlies would send them into the loser's bracket and they would then face the loser of Odessa/Gordon State on Wednesday at 10AM.