Big Ten Tournament Bracket (PDF) | Big Ten Tournament Central
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – With the final regular season games wrapped up on Sunday (May 6) evening, the Big Ten Conference announced the 2018 Big Ten Softball Tournament bracket with the Illinois softball team earning the No. 6 seed in the 12-team tournament, hosted by the University of Wisconsin on May 10-12 in Madison, Wis.
The Illini will face off against No. 11 seed Maryland on Thursday (May 10) at 1:30 p.m. CT at the Goodman Softball Complex.
The Tournament is a single-elimination format that will began on Thursday, with the title contest slated for Saturday night at Goodman Diamond. The tournament champion will earn the conference's automatic berth to the NCAA Tournament.
The first pitch of the 2018 Big Ten Tournament will take place at 11 a.m. Thursday when tournament host and No. 7 seed Wisconsin faces No. 10 seed Purdue, with the winner advancing to play second-seeded Minnesota on Friday. The winner of the Illini and the Terps will be moving on to play No. 3 seed Indiana. The eighth seed, Michigan State takes on ninth-seeded Nebraska at approximately 4:30 p.m. Thursday, with top seed and Big Ten Champion Michigan awaiting the winner. In the last of Thursday's first-round games at approximately 7 p.m., No. 5 Ohio State meets No. 12 seed Iowa, as fourth-seeded Northwestern gets set to face the winner.
Friday's quarterfinal games will begin at 11 a.m., with the four victorious schools reaching the semifinals. The first semifinal will be played at 1 p.m. Saturday, with the second semifinal beginning at approximately 3:30 p.m. Saturday. First pitch for Saturday's Big Ten Tournament championship game is scheduled for 6 p.m.
Once again this season, BTN will televise all 11 games of the Big Ten Softball Tournament live, with each game also available on the BTN2Go platform, either online at btn2go.com or through the BTN2Go app.
For more information on this year's tournament, including details on how to purchase all-session and single-session tickets, CLICK HERE.
For more Fighting Illini softball news, stay tuned to FIGHTINGILLINI.com and follow the team on Twitter @IlliniSB or like Fighting Illini Softball on Facebook.
