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Huskies Qualify For NCAA Softball Championships

NCAA Mid-Atlantic Regional Bracket (PDF FILE)

BLOOMSBURG—The Bloomsburg University softball team earned a spot in the upcoming NCAA championships for a 22nd straight year it was announced on Monday.

The Huskies will be the fifth seed in the six team event to be held May 6-9 at Shippensburg University.

Joining Bloomsburg in the Mid-Atlantic Regional will be Shippensburg, the top seed; California (PA), the second seed; Kutztown, the third seed; Lock Haven, the fourth seed and Virginia State, the sixth seed and champion of the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association (CIAA).

Bloomsburg, which missed the PSAC playoffs for the first time in school history, will go into the NCAA tournament with a record of 25-14-1. The Huskies have the most wins, 60, of any school all-time in NCAA championship tournament action and have played in the most games, 103. A year ago, the Huskies had a streak of three consecutive regional championships snapped and overall have won nine regional titles in 21 years.

Leading the Huskies in hitting this season has been senior Jess Shndyer (Milton/Milton), who is batting .389 with a 10 homers and 44 RBI. Shnyder's 44 runs batted in this season are a career-high, while her 10 homers are two shy of her career best. Junior first basemen Dee Wolfe (Milton/Milton) is second in batting at .361 with a homer and 29 RBI, while senior Samantha Basalik is third at .327 with 10 RBI.

The Huskies top pitchers this year have been junior Amanda Smith (Sandy Ridge/Philipsburg-Osceola), who is 9-2 with a 1.22 ERA and senior Amber Cowher (Williamsport/Williamsport), who is 10-8 with a 1.80 ERA. Cowher has also been the team's starting right fielder when not pitching and has a batting average of .253 for the year with nine RBI.

Shippensburg comes into the tournament with a record of 43-4 after winning the PSAC championship for the second straight season. California is 31-9 on the year and lost to Shippensburg in the PSAC title game. Kutztown is 28-17 on the season, while Lock Haven has a mark of 26-15. Virginia State is 20-22 on the year after sweeping through the CIAA tournament several weeks ago. The Lady Trojans have not played since April 18th.

Tournament Schedule

The tournament will be played on a double-elimination basis. The tournament will get underway at 10:00 a.m., Thursday, May 6. Lock Haven, the number four seed, will play Bloomsburg, the number five seed, in the opening game. Game Two gets underway at noon and will feature Kutztown, the number three seed against Virginia State. In Game Three Shippensburg will face the winner of Game One at 2:00 p.m. and then in Game Four at 4:00 p.m., California (Pa.) will face the winner of Game Two.Four games, beginning at 10:00 a.m. will be played on Friday and at least two, with the possibility of three, being played on Saturday.