At a glance
NCAA SOFTBALL TOURNAMENT FAYETTEVILLE REGIONAL
NO. 6 ARKANSAS VS. MANHATTAN WHEN Noon Friday WHERE Bogle Park, Fayetteville RECORDS Arkansas 40-9, Manhattan 22-14 TV SEC Network
Manhattan College will approach the NCAA Softball Tournament with the same mindset it took into the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Tournament.
The Jaspers (22-14) came into the MAAC Tournament as the No. 6 seed but won five of six games to claim the title and earn their second NCAA Tournament bid in school history and their first since 1999.
They will now take on the University of Arkansas, ranked No. 6 in the country in the ESPN.com/USA Softball poll as well as being the No. 6 national seed, in the first game of the Fayetteville Regional at noon Friday at Bogle Park.
Pitcher Nicole Williams, who earned MAAC Tournament MVP honors, said the team will look to stay grounded as it makes the more than 1,300-mile trip from the Bronx in New York to Fayetteville.
“The biggest thing for myself is just not to over-think it,” Williams said. “Like when we went to the MAAC championship, we were like, ‘This is like any other game.’ “We just have to play like we know how and that’s how I’m going into this weekend.” Williams, a graduate student, is 13-2 in the circle with a 2.02 ERA and 110 strikeouts in 107 2/3 innings pitched. Junior third baseman Annie Moore, a first-team all-MAAC selection, has a team-best .361 batting average and 20 RBI. Her five home runs are tied for tops on the team.
Manhattan Coach Tom Pardalis acknowledged the environment will be challenging. He recalled taking his Marist team to Arizona when the Wildcats were ranked No. 1 in the country.
“When we got there our kids’ eyes were so big and so amazed,” Pardalis said. “It’s just so different from playing in a small setting like we do. It’s hard to imagine for them because it’s gonna be bigger than they think it is.
“For a small mid-major school, this is a great experience and we’re looking forward to it.” Friday will be exactly 22 years years to the day since the last time the Jaspers played in the NCAA Tournament. And they went a quick two-and-out then. Manhattan will also be trying to buck a bad trend for the MAAC champion in the NCAA Tournament.
The MAAC champion is 6-52 all-time in the tournament and has lost 23 games in a row.
But Williams had a good feeling during the conference tournament and she’s hoping to carry that through this weekend.
“I knew once we won against Iona … I had this feeling that we just couldn’t lose,” Williams said. “We came together at just the right time and we did what we came there to do.” The Jaspers, who played a conference-only schedule, started the season 6-6 but got going when Williams began recovering from a knee injury, Pardalis said.
“She rounded into shape, our team rounded into shape,” said Pardalis, who is in his 12th season with the Jaspers. “We had a great group of seniors, our senior captains meshed the underclassmen and upperclassmen together. It was just a wonderful ride.” Manhattan leaned a lot on pitching and defense since it ranked third from the bottom in the MAAC in team batting average. But the team got key hits in the postseason.
“The last three weeks we started getting timely hits,” Pardalis said. “And we started getting timely hits from a lot of different people.” Pardalis has watched plenty of film on the Razorbacks, but he’s seen them up close, too. Manhattan lost 9-1 in six innings to Arkansas in a tournament in Madeira Beach, Fla. in 2018 in which several current Razorbacks were on that team.
The Jaspers are a confident team, Pardalis said.
“There’s no other way to look at it,” Pardalis said. “We’re going there to win and compete. That’s the bottom line. They gotta get on the field, we gotta get on the field. That’s where it’s decided. We’ll find out once the game starts.”
NCAA SOFTBALL TOURNAMENT FIRST ROUND
THURSDAY’S GAMES
All times Central
TEMPE REGIONAL
Brigham Young vs. Virginia Tech, 6:30 p.m.
Arizona St. (15) vs. Southern Illinois, 9 p.m.
FRIDAY’S GAMES
ATHENS REGIONAL
Duke (13) vs. North Carolina-Greensboro, 11 a.m. (ACC Network) Georgia vs. Western Kentucky, 1:30 p.m.
LEXINGTON REGIONAL
Kentucky (14) vs. Northwestern, 11 a.m. (ESPN2) Notre Dame vs. Miami (Ohio), 1:30 p.m.
KNOXVILLE REGIONAL
Liberty vs. James Madison, 11 a.m. (ESPNU) Tennessee (9) vs. E. Kentucky, 1:30 p.m.
FAYETTEVILLE REGIONAL
Arkansas (6) vs. Manhattan, noon (SEC Network)
Stanford vs. South Dakota St., 2:30 p.m.
TALLAHASSEE REGIONAL
Central Florida vs. Auburn, 1 p.m. (ESPN2) Florida St. (10) vs. Kennesaw St., 3:30 p.m.
COLUMBIA REGIONAL
Iowa State vs. Illinois-Chicago, 1 p.m. Missouri (8) vs. Northern Iowa, 3:30 p.m.
STILLWATER REGIONAL
Oklahoma State (5) vs. Campbell, 1 p.m. Boston vs. Mississippi State, 3:30 p.m.
GAINESVILLE REGIONAL
Florida (4) vs. South Florida, 1 p.m. (ESPNU) South Alabama vs. Baylor, 3:30 p.m.
TUSCALOOSA REGIONAL
Troy vs. Clemson, 2 p.m.
Alabama (3) vs. Alabama State, 5 p.m.
BATON ROUGE REGIONAL
LSU (7) vs McNeese State, 3 p.m. (ESPNU) G. Washington vs. Louisiana, 5:30 p.m.
AUSTIN REGIONAL
Texas (12) vs. Saint Francis (Pa.), 4 p.m. (Longhorn Network) Texas State vs. Oregon, 6:30 p.m.
NORMAN REGIONAL
Wichita State vs. Texas A&M, 5 p.m. (ESPN2) Oklahoma (1) vs. Morgan State, 7:30 p.m.
TUCSON REGIONAL
Villanova vs. Ole Miss, 5 p.m. (ESPNU) Arizona (11) vs. Maryland-Baltimore Co., 7:30 p.m.
SEATTLE REGIONAL
Seattle vs. Michigan, 7 p.m. (ESPN2) Washington (16) vs. Portland St., 9:30 p.m.
LOS ANGELES REGIONAL
Fresno State vs. Minnesota, 7 p.m. (ESPNU) UCLA (2) vs. Long Beach State, 9:30 p.m.