PRESQUE ISLE, Maine — The University of Maine at Presque Isle softball team has been selected as the No. 6 seed in the USCAA National Tournament to be played at Firestone Stadium in Akron, Ohio, on May 15-18.
This marks the second consecutive season that the Owls will participate in the tournament. UMPI, with a 22-13 record, will take on No. 3 Carlow University of Pittsburgh (16-18-1) in an opening-round game to be played at 4 p.m. on Monday, May 15.
UMPI and Carlow were scheduled to meet during the regular season, but the game was cancelled due to unforeseen circumstances.
Nicole Marucci, Ariel Williams and Sara Packard are the team’s leading hitters. The Owls carry a .286 team batting average.
Marucci leads the team in batting average at .398. She shares the team lead in homers with four and has 29 RBIs, which is tops on the Owls. Williams is batting .394 and leads the team in hits (50) and doubles (11), while Packard carries a .378 batting average and leads UMPI in on-base percentage at .472.
Packard has a .329 earned run average in 221-1/3 innings of work as the Owls’ starting pitcher.
UMPI is coached by Sara Shaw.
The double-elimination tournament will feature a 10-team field, which has yet to be determined based on the outcome of one of the conference tournaments.
Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College, based out of Saint Mary of the Woods, Indiana, is the top-ranked team in the region.
