ST. JOSEPH, Minn. – Every year, the College of Saint Benedict softball team heads south to either Florida or Arizona for spring break tournaments to play Division III teams from around the country. This year, instead of going to one or the other, the team is going to both.
 
Head coach Rachael Click had already committed to her team playing in The Spring Games in Clermont, Fla., and then CSB received its first-ever invite to the prestigious NFCA Leadoff Classic in Tucson, Ariz. – an invite Click couldn't turn down. So Saturday, Feb. 29, the team heads to Florida where it plays seven games in four days before flying to Arizona for seven more games over the next five days.
 
The team will see some familiar faces in Florida, including Ohio Northern – a team that beat the Bennies last year in Florida – and No. 8 Trine, a team Saint Benedict upset in its 2018 trip to Arizona. Trine was ranked fifth in Division III at the time, but CSB won 10-4. CSB also takes on Wartburg – a region rival – and Muskingum, another team the Bennies played, and beat, last year in Florida. Also on the schedule for the team's time in Florida are Alvernia, Franklin College and Eastern Nazarene.
 
Of the seven teams Saint Benedict plays in Florida, six won at least 23 games last season, and both Trine and Muskingum won 30 or more games. Trine advanced to the NCAA Championship final site and finished the year 37-8, and both Wartburg and Eastern Nazarene earned NCAA Regional Tournament bids.
 
After taking on the eighth-ranked team in the nation in Florida, CSB faces four of the top six teams in Division III in Tucson. The Bennies start the Arizona portion of the trip against No. 6 Emory – the 2019 national runner up. They also face No. 2 Christopher Newport, No. 3 Linfield and No. 5 Illinois Wesleyan. Washington University in St. Louis, Berry and Pitt-Bradford round out the team's schedule.
 
Emory, Linfield, CNU and Illinois Wesleyan all won 37 or more games last season. IWU made it to the NCAA Championship final site, and both Linfield and Christopher Newport made it to the super regionals. Pitt-Bradford and Berry also won at least 23 games in 2019.
 
CSB kicked off 2020 with a sweep of Bethany Lutheran last week. The team is coming off a 27-15 finish in 2019. CSB earned its second straight and fourth ever at-large berth to the NCAA Tournament where it went 0-2 in the Pella, Iowa Regional.