The Gannon softball team is bound for the NCAA Tournament.
 
The NCAA announced the Division II national tournament field on Monday morning, and the Golden Knights were awarded the No. 7 seed in the Atlantic Regional. Gannon will face No. 2-seeded West Chester in the first round on Thursday at 2:30 p.m. at Charleston (W.Va.). The regional is a double-elimination format.
 
Gannon will open the tournament in a four-team bracket at Charleston, W.Va. (45-4), which will host the lower portion of the eight-team bracket, which is called Atlantic Regional 2, from Thursday through Saturday. The host Golden Eagles will face No. 6 seed Bloomsburg (33-22) in the Charleston other opening game.
 
The teams in each four-team bracket will play a double-elimination format Thursday through Saturday before the two advancing teams face each other in the best-of-three Super Regional on May 14-15.
 
Coach Michelle Wiley's Golden Knights enter the tournament with a 31-13 record after winning the PSAC Western Division regular-season title with a 25-6 mark. West Chester (34-20) won the PSAC Tournament title on Saturday. Gannon is one of six PSAC teams in the Atlantic Regional but is the only team from the PSAC West to qualify.
 
East Stroudsburg (45-15) is the No. 1 seed in the Atlantic Regional after winning the PSAC East regular-season title and finishing as the PSAC Tournament runner-up. ESU will host a four-team bracket – Atlantic Regional 1 – and face No. 8 Bowie State (20-21) in the first round. No. 4 Kutztown (33-22) and No. 5 Shippensburg (33-19) will meet in the first round of that bracket.