St. Thomas softball was selected as an at-large team in the NCAA DIII tournament and will travel to Pella, Iowa to take on 10th-ranked Central College in the opening round of the regionals, beginning Friday at 3:30 p.m.

The Tommies (34-9 overall, 18-4 MIAC) dropped back-to-back games in the MIAC tournament on Saturday to St. Kate’s and Hamline, forcing them to wait until Monday’s selection show to learn their fate.

The Wildcats beat the Pipers in Sunday’s MIAC championship 6-2 to claim the conference’s automatic bid.

Central College (32-8 overall, 13-3 IIAC) went undefeated against MIAC teams during the regular season, beating Augsburg once, St. Ben’s twice and Hamline three times.

They fell to third-ranked Luther 4-3 in nine innings in the Iowa Intercollegiate Athletic Conference championship game Saturday.

Taylor Smith can be reached at smit9660@stthomas.edu.