FINAL NAIA TOP 25 | NAIA OPENING ROUND PAIRINGS

ASHLAND – Two days after winning the Cascade Conference Tournament title, the Southern Oregon University softball team learned Wednesday that its initial destination for national postseason play is Hattiesburg, Mississippi.

The Raiders (40-12) – still ranked No. 20 in Wednesday's final NAIA Top 25 – earned one of 31 automatic bids to the 40-team, double-elimination affair. They'll be the No. 2 seed in a four-team pod hosted by top-seeded and seventh-ranked William Carey (Miss.), which received an at-large bid with a record of 42-9 and went 20-4 in the Southern States Athletic Conference. The No. 3 seed is No. 22 Southeastern (Fla.), which went 41-15 to get an at-large out of the Sun Conference, and the No. 4 seed is unranked Indiana University Southeast (28-21), which got an automatic bid by advancing to the title game of the River States Conference Tourament.

The Raiders have never previously faced any of the teams in its pod. They'll open on Monday against Southeastern. Times have yet to be announced.
 
The 40-team Opening Round format originated in 2013. SOU made its first appearance last year, going 1-2 as the No. 3 seed in the Lindsey Wilson (Ky.) Bracket.

Ten Opening Round champions will advance to the 37th annual NAIA World Series, which will take place from May 26 to June 1 in Clermont, Fla.

Southeastern advanced to last year's NAIA World Series and was one win short of reaching the championship game. William Carey was one win short of winning the 2014 title and made another World Series appearance in 2015.

Elsewhere in the Cascade Conference, regular-season champion Corban received a No. 2 seed in the Columbia (Ky.) Bracket and at-large qualifier Oregon Tech will be a No. 3 seed in the Costa Mesa (Calif.) Bracket hosted by Vanguard.

A complete Opening Round preview will be published at a later date.