Wise, Va. - After having a tough time on the national scene the first two trips, the UVa-Wise softball squad learned of its upcoming opponents for the NAIA Softball National Championship announced today.

The Lady Cavs (31-15) ran its way through the Appalachian Athletic Conference tournament to earn the program's third trip to the National Championship in three seasons. The odd number years have been the magic ones for UVa-Wise with its other trips coming in the 2005 and 2007 seasons. The team will try to turn around its fortunes from the other two appearances around as they suffered a 0-4 fate in each trip.

UVa-Wise found out its Pool Play opponents it will be facing released by the NAIA softball committee. The Lady Cavs will be in Pool H of the eight Pools of four teams. Bethel (Ind.) College (50-6), who is ranked 8^th in the nation, is the group of four's top seed. 

The second opponent will be a familiar one in ninth-rated Martin Methodist (Tenn.). The Lady Cavs split two games with the Redhawks early this season. The final foe of Pool H is 23^rd-ranked College of Idaho (32-17). 

UVa-Wise will face Bethel first on Thursday, May 14 starting at 1:00 p.m. eastern time. On Friday, May 15, Martin Methodist will be the opponent for the third time this season at 4:30 p.m. The squad rounds out its Pool H contests on Satuday, May 16 against the College of Idaho in a 3:00 p.m. affair.

The winners of each Pool will move onto the double elimination Championship Tournament which would start on Monday, May 18.