For the third year in a row, the Massachusetts softball team will play host to one of 16 regional tournaments in the opening round of the NCAA Women's Softball Championship, and for the third year in a row, it will do so as a No. 2 seed.
"We're home again, third year in a row. It's a great feeling," pitcher Brandice Balschmiter said.
The 12th-seeded Stanford Cardinals will fly cross-country to Amherst as the top seed in the regional, as will No. 3 Princeton and No. 4 Lehigh, which were also part of the 2006 Amherst Regional.
As has become the tradition, the Minutewomen watched and waited at The Hangar on University Dr. in Amherst last night at 10 p.m. for ESPN's NCAA Softball Selection Show. After 5th overall seed Texas A&M was announced as the host school for its regional, which includes Louisiana Tech, Auburn and Stephen F. Austin, the Amherst Regional was announced, filling the small pub with cheers from the team.
"This is our third year in a row hosting, so I'm pleasantly surprised," third baseman Whitney Mollica said. "It's just better because we have our home crowd here, and we can rest here. We don't have to be travelling anywhere, so it's better for us in the long run."
In 2006, the Minutewomen won the Amherst Regional without having to play top-seeded Texas A&M, which lost twice to Lehigh. The Minutewomen defeated Albany, 2-0, in the opening round of the tournament, then defeated Lehigh on back-to-back days to move on to the Super Regionals, where Balschmiter and the Minutewomen lost a best-of-three series to Northwestern.
Last season, the Oklahoma Sooners came to the Pioneer Valley and defeated UMass twice en route to a regional championship. After failing to make it back to the Super Regionals last season, the team is glad to be back in Amherst for another chance at making a deep postseason run.
The Minutewomen returned home from Charlotte after claiming their 20th Atlantic 10 Championship, which will be a different experience for many of the players after hosting both the conference and regional tournaments in Amherst last season.
"I felt the adverse effects of the crowd the other day at Charlotte," UMass coach Elaine Sortino said. "We were down, and it was so loud you couldn't hear yourself think down there. Our crowd will be very helpful to us."
For senior Lauren Proctor, hosting in the opening round means one more chance to play in front of the home crowd, something she is excited to be a part of.
"I think being at home is a great advantage," Proctor said. "We've got a core group of fans at home that are so loyal and so helpful. Having them there is really important to us."
If UMass makes it through the first round of the tournament, the next likely opponent will be the Aggies, who are hosting the corresponding regional tourney and are the heavy favorite. The Minutewomen defeated Texas A&M - then No. 2 in the country - on March 1 in a 4-1 decision.
However, the Aggies' two best players, Amanda Scarborough (injury) and Big 12 Pitcher and Player of the Year Megan Gibson did not play in the game. Without looking ahead too much, some of the Minutewomen are looking forward to the potential rematch.
"They have some good athletes that we didn't get to see," Mollica said. "So we have to be ready no matter who we face, but obviously we have to take this one game at a time."
"We saw Texas A&M come up on the screen and said, 'That would be a great one to be paired up with," Balschmiter said. "Looking into the future a little bit, it would be great to face them again if we take care of business against Princeton, Lehigh and Stanford first."
Jeremy Rice can be reached at jeremyr@student.umass.edu.
Be the first to comment on this article!