The Kirkwood Eagles will be facing a strong field at the NJCAA Division II Softball Championship in Clinton, Miss., this week.

There are 11 ranked teams in the 16-team tournament and two other teams that are receiving votes in the national poll.

The tournament features No. 1 DMACC (44-0), No. 2 LSU Eunice (46-18), No. 4 Jones County (49-3) and No. 5 Kirkwood (48-11) as the likely top-four seeds in the event that begins Wednesday at Traceway Park.

If the tournament goes according to form, Kirkwood would be seeded to meet DMACC in the semifinals. DMACC swept the four-game series from the Eagles in the ICCAC conference this season.

The other seeded teams are No. 6 Phoenix (49-8), No. 7 Cowley (39-14), No. 9 Madison (49-8), No. 11 Illinois Central (35-9), No. 12 Lansing (40-9), No. 14 Mercer County (37-6) and No. 17 Pitt (32-11).

Lincoln Land (33-19) and Potomac State (23-9) received votes in the Top 20 last week. Kankakee (27-22), Johnson County (29-14) and Mott (33-15) round out the field for the national tournament.

The brackets have not been announced.

Kirkwood is making its fourth straight trip to the World Series and sixth trip in 11 years under Coach Joe Yegge.

The tournament is scheduled for May 16-19.