Bowdoin College welcomes Williams, Trinity and Amherst to Pickard Softball Diamond this weekend for the 2017 New England Small College Athletic Conference Softball Championship.
The three-day championship begins with a pair of games on Friday and concludes on Sunday.
Action gets underway on Friday with host Bowdoin taking on Amherst at 2:30 p.m. Williams and Trinity square off in the day’s second game at 5 p.m.
Polar Bears preview
Bowdoin (27-8, 9-3 NESCAC East) is hosting the NESCAC Softball Championship for the first time in program history and will face Amherst (26-8, 10-2 NESCAC West) in the opening game.
The Polar Bears are making their fourth appearance in the last five years in the tournament and are seeking their first title in program history.
Bowdoin owns a 2-1 record against Amherst in the postseason. The two teams last met in the opening game of the 2012 Championship, with Bowdoin earning an extra-inning victory.
The Polar Bears have solid all-around numbers as a team. They rank second in the league in hitting with a .335 average and own the lowest ERA in the conference at 2.17.
Senior Marisa O’Toole leads the NESCAC in hitting (.447) and RBIs (37). She has recorded seven home runs and is slugging .777 on the year.
Senior Emily Griffin has 12 wins in 17 appearances and has struck out 80 batters in 99 1/3 innings of work. First-year Allison Rutz owns a 1.49 ERA, third best in the NESCAC, and has won seven times this season. She has also helped her own cause at the plate, ranking second on the Polar Bears with a .385 batting average and 23 RBIs.
Format
The top two teams in the East and West divisions qualify for the NESCAC Softball Championship. The host site rotates between the two divisions each year, with the No. 1 seed in the East Division playing host this season.
After the conclusion of Friday’s games, the first elimination game will be played between the first day losers on Saturday morning, followed by the first day winners.
Saturday’s late game will feature an elimination game between the game three winner and loser of game four.
The championship on Sunday will include that last team standing on Saturday and the lone undefeated team in the tournament. If necessary, a second game will be played in the result of the undefeated team dropping Sunday’s opener.
Check out the “Goings On” on B3 for complete schedule details.
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