Softball Championship Begins Wednesday
Tim McDonnell
Championship Central |
Championship Bracket
RICHMOND, Va. – The 2018 Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) Softball Championship starts on Wednesday morning from James Madison University’s Veterans Memorial Park. This is the third straight year that the tournament features five teams contending for the conference title and automatic berth to the Division I NCAA Softball Tournament.
Coverage from Harrisonburg, Va., includes nearly every game broadcast live and free on
CAA.tv, which is available online and through mobile devices, as well as OTT platforms Roku, AppleTV, Amazon Fire TV, and Android TV. Friday’s title game, set for Noon, will be streamed on
CollegeSportsLive.com and the College Sports Mobile app as part of the CAA’s package with CBS Sports Digital.
Fourth-seeded UNCW (19-27; 9-12 CAA) and fifth-seeded College of Charleston (29-25; 8-13 CAA) met each other for three games to end the regular season this past weekend, and square off again to open the tournament at 11:00 a.m. The Seahawks had to earn their ticket into the postseason field, successfully completing a sweep of the Cougars to finish one spot ahead in the league standings.
UNCW makes its second straight appearance in the championship after reaching the tournament in 2017 for the first time since 2007. Senior
Kelsey Bryan leads her team with 43 hits and a .295 average, while sophomore
Dominique Travers leads the way with six home runs this season. UNCW’s senior class has combined to win 102 games – which is one win shy of the program record set in 1999. Charleston reached the postseason for the third time in as many years, while senior
Taylor DuPree enters the week as the all-time conference record holder in career hits with 270. The Cougars are searching for their first tournament-opening win in four championship trips all-time.
In another intriguing Day 1 matchup, second-seeded Hofstra (37-12; 17-4 CAA) takes on third-seeded Towson (40-15; 13-8 CAA) in Game 2 at 1:30 p.m. The Pride opened league play unbeaten at 15-0 before being swept by JMU in Harrisonburg, and losing last weekend’s series opener against the Tigers, though the Pride responded with a series win against Towson to clinch the No. 2 seed for the second straight year. Hofstra’s pitching staff is headlined by sophomore stud
Sarah Cornell (22-7, 2.24 ERA), who owns the most strikeouts in the conference with 225. Freshman
Sophie Dandola has contributed 123.0 innings of work and is 14-5 with a 1.71 ERA.
Towson has enjoyed one of the most efficient offensive seasons in its history, while the Tigers' 40 overall wins are the most during a single-season for the program all-time. Seniors
Kendyl Scott and
Brook Miko lead a productive lineup with respective .472 and .426 averages on the year, while Miko already set the all-time CAA career RBI record (185) and broke the single-season RBI mark with 72 this spring. Mike also is the new single-season record holder for runs scored with 57. Scott, meanwhile, is the conference leader in hits with 84 – just two shy of tying the all-time CAA single-season record of 86.
The winner of the Hofstra/Towson contest advances to Thursday’s Day 2 opener at Noon.
Two-time defending CAA champion James Madison (40-10; 19-2 CAA) won its fifth straight CAA regular season title and hosts the tournament for the fifth consecutive year. The current No. 22 Dukes play in Game 3 on Wednesday at 4:00 p.m. and face the winner of UNCW/CofC. JMU, which has gone 12-2 in championship play over the last five seasons, leads the conference in team home runs (73) and team ERA (1.72). Freshman pitcher
Payton Buresch owns a 17-4 record and 1.39 ERA (the best in the CAA), while sophomore
Odicci Alexander has belted 13 homers with 47 RBI at the plate, alongside a league-best 23-5 record in the circle. She ranks second in total strikeouts with 191 and fourth in ERA (1.95).
The final contest of Wednesday takes place at 6:30 p.m. and is an elimination game, featuring the loser of the tournament opener, versus the loser of the Game 2 contest.
On Thursday, May 10, three games are set to take place as teams playing in the first game of the day at Noon will earn a spot in Friday’s title contest with a victory. The loser will have to come back at 5:00 in another elimination game against an opponent that plays in the same format at 2:30 p.m.
The 2018 title game takes place on Friday, May 11 at Noon and can be seen live on
CollegeSportsLive.com (CBSi). A second game will follow, only if necessary, after the conclusion of the first game. For more information on the 2018 Championship, visit our official championship page.
2018 CAA Softball Championship
Harrisonburg, Va. | Veterans Memorial Park
Wednesday, May 9
Game 1: No. 4 UNCW vs. No. 5 College of Charleston | 11:00 AM
Game 2: No. 2 Hofstra vs. No. 3 Towson | 1:30 PM
Game 3: No. 1 James Madison vs. Winner Game 1 | 4:00 PM
Game 4: Loser Game 1 vs. Loser Game 2 | 6:30 PM
Thursday, May 10
Game 5: Winner Game 2 vs. Winner Game 3 | 12:00 PM
Game 6: Winner Game 4 vs. Loser Game 3 | 2:30 PM
Game 7: Winner Game 6 vs. Loser Game 5 | 5:00 PM
Friday, May 11
Game 8: Winner Game 5 vs. Winner Game 7 | 12:00 PM |
CBSi
Game 9: (If necessary) *Immediately Following Game 8 |
CBSi