No. 24 Ohio Northern receives at-large bid to 2012 NCAA III Softball Tournament

By Tim Glon

ADA — The No. 24-ranked Ohio Northern softball team received an at-large bid to the 2012 NCAA Division III Tournament.

The Polar Bears (26-11) received the No. 2 seed in the Alma (Mich.) Regional and will face seventh-seeded Penn State-Behrend (26-13) in the first round on Thursday at 4 pm.

Ohio Northern won its fourth consecutive Ohio Athletic Conference Regular Season title with a 14-3 league record and finished runner-up at the OAC Tournament in Ada Friday and Saturday.

This also marks the fourth consecutive NCAA Tournamernt appearance for Ohio Northern.

The Polar Bears will then face either third-seeded Alma (Mich.) or sixth-seeded Denison on Friday in the double-elimination tournament. With a win, ONU will play at 4 pm on Friday and will play an elimination game at Noon with a loss.

No. 13-ranked Trine (Ind.) is the region's top seed and will face No. 8-seed Geneva (N.Y.) and fifth-seeded John Carroll will play fourth-seeded Chicago (Ill.) in the other two games on Thursday.

Check back to ONUSports.com for more updates when they become available.