GRANTHAM, Pa. – After clinching its 11th conference championship in program history on Sunday, the Messiah softball team is slated for its 13th-ever appearance in the NCAA Tournament. The Falcons will clash with CUNYAC champions Hunter College this Friday, May 13, at 2:00 p.m. on the campus of Christopher Newport University in Newport News, Va.
Messiah (27-13, 11-5 MAC Commonwealth) has an all-time record 35-25 (.583) in the NCAA Tournament. The Falcons will compete in the Regional Round this weekend. The Regional Round is a double-elimination pod of four teams as Christopher Newport and Wilson College will be competing on the same site as Messiah. Check out this weekend's schedule
here.
The 2022 NCAA DIII Softball Tournament is composed of a 62-team field with 43 automatic qualifiers coming from conference champions while the remaining 19 teams were selected as At-Large bids.
Read below for a quick preview of this Friday's matchup:
Messiah University Falcons – 27-13 Overall, 11-5 MAC Commonwealth – MAC Commonwealth Champions
Roster / Schedule / Stats
The Falcons had a strong 2022 campaign led by strong pitching from
Madison Walter. Walter was recently named MAC Commonwealth Pitcher of the Year after pitching to a 0.86 ERA, a conference-best mark and the eight-best ERA in the country. In addition to Walter's impressive ERA, the senior pitcher led the conference in strikeouts (151) while tossing 18 complete games.
Messiah clinched the top seed in the MAC Commonwealth Tournament, besting Stevenson University, 1-0, in a nail-biter that lasted 10 frames.
Olivia Denmark provided the game-winning RBI-single while Walter tossed all 10 innings. After inclement weather shifted the tournament to a single-elimination bracket, the Falcons were slated to play Lebanon Valley College in the MAC Commonwealth Championship Game. Walter pitched another complete game as the Falcons topped Lebanon Valley, 2-1, to claim their first conference crown since 2018. Between the two postseason games, Walter totaled 25 strikeouts across 17 innings.
Hunter College – 22-12 Overall, 20-0 CUNYAC – CUNYAC Champions
Roster / Schedule / Stats
The Hawks were perfect in their conference slate, winning all 20 of its contests and cruising through the CUNYAC to claim their 12th conference championship in program history. Hunter was guided by strong pitching from Leah Dillon throughout the season, leading the CUNYAC in ERA (2.00). Dillon tossed a total of 15 innings in the CUNYAC Softball Tournament, allowing just two runs while striking out 10 batters. Offensively, the Hawks have over three players who are batting over .400. Sophia Perez leads Hunter in batting average, hitting .482 on the year with 41 hits and 15 RBI. Nicole Bowe (.455) and Paige Witalec (.405) are also hitting over .400 on the season as Bowe has a team-high 50 hits. As a team, the Hawks are hitting .349, a top-40 mark in the nation.
Hunter lost seven-of-eight contests to begin the season, but have rebounded to win its first conference championship since the 2008 campaign.
The Falcons and Hawks will clash for the first time in each of the programs' histories on Friday.
