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THE SETTING
Winners of the Great Lakes Valley Conference Tournament for the second straight year, UMSL was rewarded the top seed in the NCAA Midwest Regional. The Tritons are hosting one of two four-team "sub-regional" brackets and will take on eighth-seeded Bellarmine on Friday at 2:30 p.m. No. 4 Truman State and No. 5 Ohio Dominican will face off on Friday at 12 p.m. in the double-elimination tournament.

UMSL POSTSEASON HISTORY
The Tritons are making their second straight and the program's fourth appearance in the NCAA Regionals. UMSL is 4-6 in NCAA contests with previous appearances in 1989, 2009 and 2013. The Tritons were the three-seed last year and traveled to No. 2 seed Grand Valley State. UMSL defeated Southern Indiana, 2-1, in its opener before falling to Grand Valley State, 4-0. The Tritons then topped Southern Indiana again, 4-2, in an elimination game, before falling to Grand Valley State, 2-1, in the final. The Lakers went on to advance to the World Series.

UMSL VS. BELLARMINE
UMSL and Bellarmine should be well-versed on each other as the Tritons' last two games have been against the Knights. UMSL defeated Bellarmine, 3-2, in the winners bracket final of the GLVC Tournament last Saturday and then topped the Knights, 3-0, in the GLVC Championship behind sophomore Hannah Perryman's no-hitter. During the regular season, UMSL posted wins of 3-2 and 2-0 (eight innings) in Louisville on April 18.

VERSUS THE REST OF THE REGIONAL
UMSL is 4-1 against Truman State this season. The Tritons took two from Truman State at home on March 23 and split with the Bulldogs in Kirksville on April 26. UMSL then handed the Bulldogs a 5-0 loss in the GLVC Tournament. The Tritons have not faced Ohio Dominican. The two were scheduled to meet in early March, but those games were canceled.

40-SOMETHING
UMSL has reached the 40-win plateau for the second straight season and the third time in program history. The Tritons were 41-13 last season and recorded 44 wins in 1995. With its win over Bellarmine in the GLVC Tournament Championship, UMSL notched its program-best 45th victory.

GLVC TOURNAMENT RECAP
UMSL went 4-0 en route to successfully defending its GLVC Tournament title. A walk-off homerun by junior Brianna Butler in the eighth inning gave the Tritons a 1-0 win over No. 8 seed Illinois Springfield in the quarterfinals. UMSL then defeated No. 4 seed Truman State, 5-0, as the Tritons recorded three homeruns and got a complete game three-hit effort from junior Brittni Chapman. In the winner's bracket finale, UMSL defeated the Knights, 3-2, behind junior Jena Boudreau's solo homerun and freshman Alex Stupek's two-run shot. Sophomore Hannah Perryman struck out 14 in the complete-game three-hit effort. Perryman then no-hit the Knights in Sunday's 3-0 championship win, which featured a two-run homerun from junior Katie Wood.

NATIONAL RECOGNITION
UMSL enters the NCAA Tournament ranked No. 6 in the NFCA Division II Top 25. The Tritons have been ranked all season, appearing at No. 18 in the preseason poll and attaining a program-best ranking of No. 4 during the week of April 23.

HEAD COACH BRIAN LEVIN
UMSL head coach Brian Levin is in his fourth season at the helm of the program and owns a record of 144-64 (.692). He became the all-time wins leader in UMSL softball history April 9, 2014 as the Tritons swept Maryville. With a 2-0 win in the second game, Levin picked up career win 127, moving pat Chuck Sosnowski (2006-10), who recorded 126 wins. During his career at UMSL, Levin has directed the program to three regular season GLVC titles, two GLVC Tournament titles and two NCAA Tournament appearances. He was also named the 2011 GLVC Coach of the Year.

50 HOMERUN CLUB
UMSL has recorded 57 homeruns for the third straight season and are two shy of the program-best 59, set in 2010. The Tritons lead the GLVC and rank 16th in DII with 1.12 homeruns per game.

THE GRANDEST OF THEM ALL
UMSL has six grand slams this season, including two by freshman Alex Stupek (at Southeast Missouri State and at Southern Indiana). Senior Ashleigh King tallied one at Missouri S&T, while juniors Katie Rutledge and Jena Boudreau each recorded one at home against Lindenwood and Saint Joseph's, respectively.

WIN STREAK
UMSL enters the NCAA Tournament on a seven-game win streak. The Tritons put together a string of 13 games earlier this season, second longest in program history.

TRITON TIDBITS
- UMSL's 1.35 ERA ranks fourth in NCAA DII
- UMSL ranks second nationally in W-L percentage (.882), trailing only top-ranked West Texas A&M (.911)
- UMSL is 17-3 at home this season
- The Tritons are outscoring their opponents 43-9 in the first inning