The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) announced today that 275 softball players have been named 2010 Daktronics-NAIA Softball Scholar-Athletes.

Nominated by each institution's head coach, a student-athlete must maintain a minimum grade point average of 3.5 on a 4.0 scale and have achieved junior academic status to qualify.

Three members of the Grand View University softball team earned Scholar-Athlete status. Juniors Jenny Reed (Lindstrom, Minn.), Megan Tompkins (Marion, Ark.), and Courtney Yacinich (Urbandale, Iowa) all qualified for the award.

The Midwest Collegiate Conference announced today its all-conference honors for the 2010 softball season. Thirty-seven athletes were recognized as part of the all-conference teams as voted on by the coaches.

Six members of the Viking softball team received MCC All-Conference honors.

Senior outfielder Meghan Tomlinson (Fort Worth, Texas) was named to the MCC First Team for the second consecutive year. Tomlinson led the Vikings offensively in 2010, batting .411 with 58 hits, six doubles, a triple, 33 runs, 14 RBI, and went 27-28 in stolen bases.

Also named to the MCC First Team was junior utility Megan Tompkins (Marion, Ark.) and sophomore catcher Emily Gilbert (Prairie City, Iowa). Tompkins batted .386 with 49 hits, 7 doubles, two triples, six home runs, 36 runs and 26 RBI. Gilbert hit .371 with 59 hits, 12 doubles, two triples, 15 home runs, 39 runs, and 53 RBI.

The Midwest Collegiate Conference has released the brackets for the final round of the 2010 MCC Softball Tournament, to take place May 8-9 at Iowa State University in Ames.

The top four seeds in the tourney are still alive, as Mount Mercy, William Penn, Grand View and Waldorf all advanced through the opening round pods this past weekend and moved to the Final 4 double-elimination tourney to take place this coming weekend.

Second-seeded William Penn will face #3 Grand View in Saturday's first game at noon, with #1 Mount Mercy squaring off against fourth seed Waldorf immediately following at about 2:30 p.m. The losers and winners of those games will then face each other, with one team being eliminated on Saturday before the final three teams play off on Sunday.

The Viking softball team hosted the first round of the Midwest Collegiate Conference Tournament Saturday and Sunday in Des Moines. The No. 3 seeded Grand View faced No. 4 Waldorf for the second game of the day Saturday and No. 7 Clarke in the opening game Sunday morning.

Waldorf defeated No. 7 Clarke 8-2 in the opening game in the Des Moines Pod Saturday. The Warriors took that momentum into the next game, defeating the Vikings 11-4. The losers of game one and two faced off Sunday morning with the Vikings winning 9-4 in 10 innings. The remainder of tourney play was suspended due to heavy rain. No further games will be played in the Des Moines pod as both Grand View and Waldorf qualified for the Final Four next weekend in Ames.

The Midwest Collegiate Conference has released the brackets for the opening round of the 2010 MCC Softball Tournament, which begins play this weekend.

Mount Mercy, William Penn and Grand View each will open the tourney hosting three-team pods this weekend, May 1-2. The tourneys will be double elimination in format, and the winners will advance to the conference tournament final four May 8-9 in Ames to be held on the campus of Iowa State University.

The winners of the three-team, double-elimination tourneys will be joined by the highest remaining seed that did not win a pod. Those four teams will participate in next weekend's double-elimination final round, and the final team to emerge from next weekend's finals will receive the MCC's automatic berth to the NAIA National Softball Championships May 20-26 in Decatur, Ala.