CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa – Raven Softball returns to the Heart Softball Championship on Wednesday as they return to the tournament for the fourth straight season under head coach Paul Hunt.

Benedictine earned the No. 7 seed and will take on NAIA No. 10 and No. 2 seed Grand View University on Thursday at 2:30 p.m. from Busse Field inside the Robert W. Plaster Complex at Mount Mercy University.

The Ravens and the Vikings met during the regular season on April 18 with the Vikings earning a 10-1, 9-4 sweep over the Ravens.

Sitting at 28-24 overall, the Ravens finished the conference schedule at 18-20 as one of two teams throughout the entire conference to play a full schedule this season. As a team, they are hitting .291 while 5.2 runs per game average. The Ravens rank 11th in the NAIA in triples with 20 while they ranked third in hit by pitch with 53. Clare Heitz and Chloe Stickland lead the Ravens with four triples each while Hailey Rindom broke her own school record this season, leading the Ravens in hit by pitch with 16.

Megan Medhus needs one double to tie the school record for career doubles current held by Blair Shanks at 63. Madison Zaccardo already holds the single-season record for RBI at 61 with the previous record of 54 standing since 2007.

Thursday's winner moves into the winner's bracket at 2:30 p.m. Friday while the loser moves to the consolation bracket at 9:30 a.m. Friday.

All games are being streamed through the Heart Network at www.heartconferencenetwork.com. Live stats will be available through www.ravenathletics.com.

#UnleashGreatness