LEXINGTON, Ky. – The first day of the 2025 Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference (HCAC) Softball Championship wrapped up on Thursday, with the top two seeds, Transylvania University and Mount St. Joseph University, advancing unbeaten to the second day of competition.
2025 HCAC Softball Championship Page
In the first game of the tournament, No. 4 Franklin College defeated No. 5 Manchester University, 4-0 and advanced to face No. 1 Transylvania in the third game, later in the day.
In game two, the No. 6 Rose-Hulman Fightin' Engineers upset the No. 3 seeded Earlham College Quakers 6-2, setting up a late afternoon game four appearance for the Engineers.
In the third game of the day, top seed and regular season HCAC Champion Transylvania faced off against No. 3 Franklin, with the Pioneers securing the win in the contest, 2-1 to advance to Day 2 remaining atop the winners bracket. The Grizzlies now drop down to the losers bracket and hope to regain the success they found to start the tournament.
In Thursday’s final game, the second seeded Mount St. Joseph Lions sent No. 6 Rose-Hulman to the losers bracket with an extra inning walk off 2-1 victory to conclude the tough fought game and day one of the championship.
Friday will feature four games, with the first contest showcasing No. 5 Manchester and No. 3 Earlham. First pitch for that contest is slated for 10 a.m. Friday's second game will feature No. 4 Franklin against No. 6 Rose-Hulman at 12:30 p.m. That will be followed by the 3 p.m. contest when the winner of the morning's Manchester/Earlham matchup will play the winner of the Franklin/MSJ contest. In the final matchup of day two, the Championships top two seeds will go toe-to-toe, with first pitch between No. 1 Transylvania and No. 2 MSJ slated for a 5:30 p.m. start.
For more information on HCAC softball, visit the websites of any of the participating schools, or go to the HCAC's home on the internet at www.heartlandconf.org. Be sure to stay up to date on all of your Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference news by following @HCACDIII on Twitter and by liking the "HCAC DIII" Facebook page.