LIVE VIDEO // LIVE STATS // NCAA BRACKET

NEWPORT NEWS, Va. - Three members of the Christopher Newport University softball squad received academic honors as the Captains continue preparing for the start of the 2023 NCAA Division III Softball Tournament. Junior outfielder Brooke Childress, and sophomore pitchers Olivia Kim and Jamie Martin received the accolades from the College Sports Communicators (CSC).

The 2023 Academic All‐District Softball Teams, selected by CSC, recognize the nation's top student‐ athletes for their combined performances on the diamond and in the classroom. The CSC Academic All‐America program separately recognizes softball honorees in four divisions — NCAA Division I, NCAA Division II, NCAA Division III and NAIA. Academic All‐District honorees advance to the CSC Academic All‐America ballot. First‐, second and third‐team Academic All‐ America honorees will be announced June 6th.

The Academic All-District honors were the first ever for Childress, Kim, and Martin, and came a year after two former Captains, Maddie Hool and Sarah Proctor, received the honors in 2022.   

The trio and the rest of the Captains will begin hosting a four-team regional Thursday afternoon at Captains Park. CNU is the top seed and the Captains are ranked tenth in the country with a 26-10 record. Keith Parr's team will play the Spartans of York College of Pennsylvania Thursday beginning at 4:30 p.m. The opening game of the day will start at 2:00 p.m., as the second-seeded Maroons of Roanoke College (27-12) will take on third-seeded Misericordia University (26-11).

The Captains are one of 62 teams in the bracket, as play begins Thursday at 16 regional sites in the double-elimination tournament. Friday's games will be played at 12:00 p.m., 2:30 p.m., and 5:00 p.m. The Championship will take place on Saturday at 12:00 p.m. with a second winner-take-all game if necessary at 2:30 p.m.

Tickets for the NCAA action will be available at Captains Park each day. Adult tickets will be sold for $10.00, while student/senior tickets will be $5.00. CNU students with valid ID will be admitted free. All ticket sales for the regional will be cash only.

The defending National Champion Captains are making their 21st overall NCAA appearance in the 39th season of the program. The Captains dropped two of three games to the top-ranked Sea Gulls last weekend in the Championship of the Coast-To-Coast Athletic Conference Tournament in Salisbury, Md. Keith Parr's squad was 47-1 last year and won the National Championship for the first time ever. Parr is in his 20th year as head coach of the Captains, and his team is playing in the NCAA's for the 16th time in 19 tournaments played during his tenure.

York College enters the tournament with a record of 23-19, and the Spartans and Captains have played 17 times in the past with CNU holding a 13-4 lead in the all-time series. Christopher Newport and York are both former members of the Capital Athletic Conference. 

The Maroons of Roanoke are 27-12, and finished the year as the runner-up in the Old Dominion Athletic Conference. CNU played a doubleheader at Roanoke on April 25th, and the teams split the twin bill. CNU leads the all-time series with Roanoke, 20-8.

Misericordia, located in Dallas, Pa., is 26-11 this year, and the Captains have never before played the Cougars on the softball field.

All games will be streamed live and Live Stats will also be available by clicking the links at the top of this story.