Posted: May 06, 2014
The officials pairings for the opening round will be announced with a video bracket show today at 7 p.m. CDT.�
Central Methodist is making its second-straight appearance in the Opening Round and is 1-2 all-time.�The Eagles qualified for the 2014 Opening Round by winning the Heart of America Athletic Conference (HAAC) regular-season and Championship Series titles and enter the event on a nine-game win streak.
The 10 Opening Round champions will punch their ticket for the 34th annual NAIA Softball World Series in Columbus, Ga., from May 23-29.
Defending national champion Concordia (Calif.) highlights the field.
Overall, 23 teams are back after a 2013 National Championship Opening Round appearance. There are three teams in this year's field with an undefeated Opening Round all-time record at 3-0: Auburn Montgomery (Ala.), Cal State San Marcos and Concordia.
The Southern States Athletic Conference leads all conferences, independents and unaffiliated groups with four qualifiers in the National Championship field. The Association of Independent Institutions, Cascade Collegiate Conference and Sooner Athletic Conference each landed a trio of programs.
The Opening Round field is comprised of 32 automatic qualifiers and eight at-large berths. Automatic qualification is given to conference regular-season champions, regular-season runners-up, tournament champions or tournament runners-up depending on the league. Conferences with 10 or more members earned two automatic qualifiers and conferences with less than 10 landed one auto berth. At-large teams were determined using the final regular-season Coaches' Top 25 Poll.
The 2014 Opening Round marks the second� year of this format with 40 teams at 10 different sites.
2014 Softball National Championship Opening Round Qualifiers
| School Name | Qualification | Overall Record^ | Opening Round Appearances* | OR Record | OR Titles |
| Auburn Montgomery (Ala.) | At-Large No. 1 | 38-6 | 2 | 3-0 | 1 |
| Belhaven (Miss.) | At-Large No. 5 | 41-15 | 2 | 3-2 | 0 |
| Bellevue (Neb.) | Midlands Collegiate Athletic Tournament Champion | 35-15 | 2 | 3-2 | 0 |
| Biola (Calif.) | At-Large No. 3 | 34-12 | 1 | 0-0 | 0 |
| Bryan (Tenn.) | Appalachian Athletic Tournament Runner-Up | 29-22 | 1 | 0-0 | 0 |
| Cal State San Marcos | Association of Independent Institutions Tournament Runner-Up | 38-7-1 | 2 | 3-0 | 1 |
| Central Methodist (Mo.) | Heart of America Athletic Regular-Season Champion | 41-6 | 2 | 1-2 | 0 |
| Columbia (Mo.) | American Midwest Tournament Runner-Up | 30-16 | 1 | 0-0 | 0 |
| Concordia (Calif.) | Golden State Athletic Tournament Champion | 48-5 | 2 | 3-0 | 1 |
| Concordia (Neb.) | Great Plains Athletic Tournament Runner-Up | 32-14 | 1 | 0-0 | 0 |
| Concordia (Ore.) | Cascade Collegiate Tournament Champion | 33-16 | 2 | 1-2 | 0 |
| Cornerstone (Mich.) | Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Tournament Runner-Up | 25-16 | 1 | 0-0 | 0 |
| Davenport (Mich.) | Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Regular-Season Champion | 36-8 | 2 | 1-2 | 0 |
| Dickinson State (N.D.) | Unaffiliated Group (Frontier/North Star) Tournament Champion | 39-13 | 2 | 0-2 | 0 |
| Georgetown (Ky.) | Mid-South Tournament Champion | 37-13 | 1 | 0-0 | 0 |
| Houston-Victoria (Texas) | At-Large No. 7 | 33-13 | 2 | 3-2 | 0 |
| Huntington (Ind.) | Crossroads League Tournament Runner-Up | 31-21 | 1 | 0-0 | 0 |
| Idaho, College of | At-Large Opening Round Host Berth | 29-15 | 2 | 2-2 | 0 |
| IU Southeast (Ind.) | Kentucky Intercollegiate Athletic Tournament Champion | 41-10 | 2 | 0-2 | 0 |
| Kansas Wesleyan | Kansas Collegiate Athletic Regular-Season Champion | 38-7 | 1 | 0-0 | 0 |
| Lindsey Wilson (Ky.) | Mid-South Regular-Season Champion | 45-9 | 2 | 2-2 | 0 |
| LSU Alexandria (La.) | Association of Independent Institutions Tournament Champion | 32-3 | 2 | 1-2 | 0 |
| MidAmerica Nazarene (Kan.) | Heart of America Athletic Tournament Runner-Up | 26-13 | 2 | 0-2 | 0 |
| Morningside (Iowa) | Great Plains Athletic Regular-Season Champion | 30-12 | 2 | 0-2 | 0 |
| Oklahoma Baptist | At-Large No. 4 | 43-15 | 1 | 0-0 | 0 |
| Oklahoma City | Sooner Athletic Tournament Champion | 49-11 | 2 | 3-1 | 1 |
| Olivet Nazarene (Ill.) | Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Regular-Season Champion | 46-3-1 | 2 | 2-2 | 0 |
| Oregon Tech | At-Large No. 6 | 33-12 | 1 | 0-0 | 0 |
| Ottawa (Kan.) | Kansas Collegiate Athletic Regular-Season Runner-Up | 26-21 | 1 | 0-0 | 0 |
| Our Lady of the Lake (Texas) | Red River Athletic Tournament Champion | 39-10-1 | 1 | 0-0 | 0 |
| Reinhardt (Ga.) | Appalachian Athletic Regular-Season Champion | 41-8 | 2 | 3-1 | 1 |
| Saint Xavier (Ill.) | Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Tournament Runner-Up | 45-7-1 | 2 | 3-1 | 1 |
| Simpson (Calif.) | Unaffiliated Group (Gulf Coast/Cal Pac) Auto Berth | 35-6 | 1 | 0-0 | 0 |
| Spring Hill (Ala.) | Southern States Athletic Tournament Champion | 40-12 | 2 | 4-1 | 1 |
| St. Gregory's (Okla.) | At-Large No. 2 | 48-9 | 2 | 1-2 | 0 |
| St. Thomas (Fla.) | The Sun Tournament Champion | 27-25 | 1 | 0-0 | 0 |
| Taylor (Ind.) | Crossroads League Regular-Season Champion | 41-15 | 1 | 0-0 | 0 |
| William Carey (Miss.) | Southern States Athletic Tournament Runner-Up | 44-10 | 1 | 0-0 | 0 |
| William Penn (Iowa) | Midwest Collegiate Tournament Champion | 36-18 | 1 | 0-0 | 0 |
| William Woods (Mo.) | American Midwest Regular-Season Champion | 39-15 | 2 | 0-2 | 0 |
^ as submitted by school in DakStats
* Opening Round appearances, including 2014 event
OR = Opening Round�
