The St. Thomas softball team’s national championship hopes are still alive after earning an at-large bid into the NCAA Division III tournament Monday morning.

All the Tommie softball team could do was wait after losing to Gustavus 4-3 in the MIAC championship game Sunday, missing out on one of the 42 automatic bids to the NCAA tournament.

But relief came swiftly as the field of 62 was announced fewer than 24 hours later.

The Tommies (34-10 overall, 16-6 MIAC) will travel to Decorah, Iowa, to take on the Linfield College Wildcats (31-12 overall, 17-11 NWC) from McMinnville, Oregon. The Wildcats earned an automatic bid after defeating conference rival George Fox in the Northwest Conference championship.

Linfield went to three Division III championship games in a row from 2010-2012, taking home the title in 2011.

The first round of the regional tournament will begin May 8. The game time has yet to be announced.

Men’s tennis

The St. Thomas men’s tennis team ended its season with a 5-0 defeat against No. 16-ranked Gustavus in the MIAC semifinals April 30 in St. Peter. St. Thomas defeated Macalester in the opening round of the playoffs to advance but fell short against the Gusties. Coach Terry Peck said Gustavus proved why they are among the best teams in the nation.

“We have to give all the credit to Gustavus. They are a really strong team, and they showed why,” Peck said.

The Tommies finished the season with a record of 11-6 overall. The team had six losses during the season, including 8-1 and 5-0 defeats to the Gusties, and 5-4 decisions to both Carleton and Southeastern (Florida). Peck said the team’s loss against Carleton had the capability of turning the entire season around.

“We lost some tough matches to Carleton that I think we should have won, and in my opinion it would have changed the season,” Peck said.

The team will graduate two seniors and return 13 players from this year’s roster.

Coach Peck recorded his 600th win with the program during the 2014-2015 season.

Women’s tennis

The St. Thomas women’s tennis team will travel to Chicago to take on St. Norbert College in the first round of the NCAA Division III tournament May 7, after being one of the 49 teams announced in Monday’s selection show.

The Tommies secured their automatic berth in the national tournament after defeating Gustavus in the MIAC championship this past weekend in St. Peter.

The winner of the St. Thomas’ (18-2 overall, 9-1 MIAC) and St. Norbert’s (24-7 overall, 9-0 Midwest Conference) first-round matchup will take on Carnegie Mellon University (Pennsylvania) in the second round. On the other half of the regional bracket, Augustana College (Illinois) will play Edgewood College (Wisconsin), with the winner drawing University of Chicago in the second round.

Carnegie Mellon is currently the fifth-ranked team in the nation, setting up a challenging matchup for St. Thomas if it defeats St. Norbert. Chicago, the only other nationally-ranked team in the region, sits at No. 15 in the latest rankings.

Peck said he’s not surprised that this team was able to accomplish something that has never been done in the history of the program.

“I kind of saw it coming. We have a talented team and they are really together on and off the court. They seem to have a lot of energy, and they were always positive and motivated. Our team is never satisfied and they always want more,” Peck said. “I think we can compete with anybody, and the (women) are not going to back down.”