HICKORY, N.C. — After a record-setting 2022 season, the Catawba Valley Community College softball team attempts to make even more history when it competes this week for a spot at nationals.

The Red Hawks play in the Region 10/South Atlantic District tournament starting on Wednesday at Dorey Park in Henrico, Va.

"We are excited about the opportunity," said Catawba Valley head softball coach Josh Bumgarner. "It's a new season. Everyone is 0-0. We're looking to go up there and play loose, play hard, play smart, play together and see what happens."

Catawba Valley had its best-ever softball season this spring — finishing with a program-record 30 wins, including 20 in conference play.

In an extremely competitive regular season in Region 10, the second-place through sixth-place teams finished within two games of each other.

The Red Hawks finished in sixth-place in the league, but due to the Region 8 champion — Pasco-Hernando (Fla.) — being guaranteed the third seed in the tournament, CVCC was pushed to the seventh seed and into a one game play-in round against Southeastern (18-21, 9-18).

"Playing Southeastern in game one should make for an exciting contest," Bumgarner said. "They are scrappy and fight every inning. It should be a thrilling winner-take-all play-in game."

The winner of the Catawba Valley-Southeastern match up, which takes place at 4 p.m. Wednesday, advances to face No. 2 Surry (24-9, 22-6) in round two. The bracket is also reset to double-elimination format.

The Region 10/South Atlantic District tournament continues through Saturday with the championship game set for 2:30 p.m. on Saturday.

For a complete look at the schedule, please click here.