Missouri Western, Emporia State and Nebraska Omaha each earned a share of the 2011 MIAA Regular Season Championship with 18-4 conference records and will be the top three seeds in the upcoming MIAA Softball Tournament.

Missouri Western will be the No. 1 seed by virtue of its 3-1 record in games against Emporia State and Nebraska Omaha this season. Emporia State held a 2-2 record against MWSU and UNO and will be the No. 2 seed, while Nebraska Omaha will be the No. 3 seed after going 1-3 against ESU and MWSU.

Missouri Southern is the fourth seed after posting a 14-8 league record and holding the tiebreaker over Northwest Missouri (also 14-8) with a win over top seed Missouri Western in the regular season. Northwest Missouri is the No. 5 seed in the tournament.

With the seeds set, so are the first round tournament matchups. All first round matchups will be played Thursday at 6 p.m. at the Blue Valley Sports Complex in Overland Park, Kan.

Top seed Missouri Western will take on No. 8 seed Washburn, No. 2 seed Emporia State will play No. 7 seed Fort Hays State, No. 3 seed Nebraska Omaha will match up with No. 6 seed Central Missouri, and No. 4 seed Missouri Southern will face off with No. 5 seed Northwest Missouri.

Story courtesy of the MIAA.