The Dodge City Community College athletic department with the support of the Dodge City Sports Commission will be hosting this year's NJCAA Region VI Division I Softball tournament at Legends Park.
Dating back to the 2017-2018 season, this will be the third consecutive D1 tournament that Dodge City Community College has hosted.
The tournament is an eight team double-elimination bracket. The event is slated to begin on Friday, May 7th at 1:00 pm, with three other games to follow that day. Saturday will provide the bulk of the tournament with games beginning at 9:00 am and will run until the last scheduled game at 5:00 pm. There will be three time slots Saturday that will see two fields of play in action.
Championship Sunday will begin at 10:00 am, followed by the beginning of the championship at 12:00 pm. The last game of the day is set for 2:00 pm, if necessary.
The field is set for the tournament, short of a few seeding arrangements. The participants are: Barton Community College, Butler Community College, Colby Community College, Dodge City Community College, Garden City Community College, Hutchinson Community College, Independence Community College, and Seward County Community College. A doubleheader between Dodge City and Colby on April 4th will determine final seeding for the west division of the Jayhawk Conference. Currently the only match-up set for Friday is host Dodge City Community College taking on Jayhawk East Champion Butler Community College at 7:00 Friday night.
The remainder of the Friday schedule will see #8 seed Barton Community College take on a to be determined Jayhawk West Champion at 1:00pm. At 3:00pm #4 seed Hutchinson will take on the to be determined #5 seed, and at 5:00 the #6 seed will take on the to be determined #3 seed.
Butler enters the tournament as a prohibitive favorite. They are currently a perfect 26-0 in KJCCC play and 43-2 overall. They currently sit at 3rd in the country in the most recent NJCAA Division I Softball rankings. They are second in the country in batting average, 3rd in runs scored, and 9th in home runs.
The Grizzlies draw a Conquistador team who is only one of two KJCCC opponents to play Butler to a full seven innings without getting run ruled and are coming off of a double header split with west division leader Garden City. The Conquistadors enter the tournament at 10-14 in KJCCC play and 15-19 overall, having lost a number of games either by one run or in extra innings.
The Conquistadors will take on the Grizzlies in the nightcap on Friday, May 7th at 7:00 pm, under the lights. If the Conquistadors were to win that matchup they would play the following day at 11:00 am. If they lose, they will take on another first round loser at 9:00 am on Saturday morning.