TYLER, TEXAS—For the first time in school-history, the Trine softball team will compete in the NCAA Division III Softball National Championships beginning this Thursday.
The Thunder will open their title quest against Montclair State Thursday night at 7:30 p.m. The Redhawks hail from the New Jersey Athletic Conference and most-recently swept NJAC-rival Keane University in the Super-Regionals. Montclair State enters Thursday's matchup with a 41-6 record. Trine is coming off a sweep of Emory in the Atlanta Super-Regional and enters the National Championships 43-4 overall. The eight-team National Championship is being hosted by the University of Texas at Tyler, May 22-27 at Suddenlink Field. As with previous rounds, the tournament follows a double-elimination format.
Trine is batting .348 in the NCAA Tournament, the best mark among teams still in the hunt for the title. The team's .409 on-base and .571 slugging percentage in the postseason also lead all teams competing in the National Championships. The Thunder are averaging 6.4 runs per game in the postseason.
Carly Searles (Levering, Mich./Petoskey) leads all performers in the postseason with two triples and 12 runs scored. She ranks second in total bases (23). Kaitlyn Clark (Mount Juliet, Tenn./Wilson Central) is tied for third in RBI's with nine and fourth with 11 hits. Rachel Harris' (Uniontown, Ohio/Hoover) four doubles are tied for the best mark among postseason performers.
Pitcher Bree Fuller (Hubbardston, Mich./Fulton) has struck out 32 batters in 33.2 innings, the fifth-best strikeout total among all pitchers in the postseason.
Montclair State is batting .302 as a team and averaging 4.3 runs per contest in the NCAA Tournament. The Redhawks have been carried by pitcher Alex Hill, who sports a 0.41 ERA in 31 postseason innings. Hill has struck out 65 and walked eight batters, while allowing just 15 hits.