KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association announced its pairings for its 2023 Softball Championship Tournament on Sunday evening (Apr. 30). The tournament will take place in Topeka, Kan. at Envista Softball Complex (Lake Shawnee Softball Complex). Fort Hays State tied for seventh in the MIAA standings with Emporia State, but received the No. 8 seed in the tournament since Emporia State held tiebreaker criteria for the higher seed. The Tigers will face No. 1 seed and MIAA Regular Season Champion Central Oklahoma in the first round on Wednesday afternoon (May 3) at 3 p.m. on Field One.
 
MIAA Championship Tournament Central Page
 
The tournament is double elimination format with all first-round games on Wednesday. Second-round championship and elimination bracket games will be on Thursday. More championship and elimination bracket games will take place on Friday before Saturday's championship. See the tournament schedule on the MIAA Championship Tournament Central Page above.
 
Fort Hays State will be making its second appearance in the MIAA Tournament in the last three years. It will be the team's fourth appearance in the tournament under head coach Adrian Pilkington. The Tigers have already produced their most wins in a season under coach Pilkington with 31 entering the championship tournament. Impressively, all eight teams competing in the championship tournament this season have 30 or more wins as the conference boasted an unprecedented nine teams (out of 14) with 30 or more wins in a season. Eleven of the 14 teams in the conference will finish with winning records overall.

For those unable to make the trip over to Topeka to cheer on the Tigers, the games will be available on The MIAA Network.
 
Below are the opening round matchups for Wednesday.
Game 1: No. 1 seed Central Oklahoma (43-6) vs. No. 8 seed Fort Hays State (31-22) – 3 p.m. (Field One)
Game 2: No. 4 seed Central Missouri (32-19) vs. No. 5 seed Washburn (36-14) – 3 p.m. (Field Two)
Game 3: No. 2 seed Missouri Southern (36-11) vs. No. 7 seed Emporia State (33-21) – 5:30 p.m. (Field One)
Game 4: No. 3 seed Rogers State (41-10) vs. No. 6 seed Missouri Western (35-18) – 5:30 p.m. (Field Two)
The remainder of the tournament (Thur.-Sat.) is scheduled to be played on Field One only.