CAA Softball Championship Commences Wednesday
CHAMPIONSHIP CENTRAL | ALL-CAA TEAMS
RICHMOND, Va. (May 7, 2019) – The 2019 Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) Softball Championship is set to get underway tomorrow, May 8, from James Madison’s Veterans Memorial Park in Harrisonburg, Va.
The five-team tournament runs from Wednesday May, 8 to Friday, May 10, with winner earning the CAA’s automatic bid to the 2019 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.
No. 4 Drexel (30-25-1, 9-12 CAA) plays No. 5 Charleston (25-28, 9-12 CAA) at 11 a.m. ET on May 8 in game one to start the tournament. The Dragons make their first appearance in the CAA Tournament since 2005, while Charleston is making its fourth consecutive appearance after making the semifinals last season.
Drexel is led by the power duo of shortstop Linda Rush and first baseman Kristi DiMeo. Rush and DiMeo lead the CAA in home runs with 20 and 18, respectively, and are among the league leaders in batting average. Rush ranks third with a .433 batting average, while DiMeo ranks fifth with a .409 average. Both rank in the top ten nationally for hits this season. Charleston’s Madi Brown leads the team with a .317 batting average. In the circle, the Cougars’ Drayton Siegling has a team-best 2.92 ERA and a 6-4 record this season, while Chandler Sparkman leads the team with 57 strikeouts.
Game two features a matchup between No. 2 Elon (31-18-1, 13-7 CAA) and No. 3 Towson (27-25, 10-11 CAA) at 1:30 p.m. Elon returns to the CAA Tournament for the first time since 2016 and finished second in the CAA for the first time in program history. Towson is seeded third for the second consecutive season and has made the CAA Tournament in six of the last seven seasons.
Elon’s Abby Barker led the team in the circle this season, posting a 2.67 ERA while striking out 66 and finishing with 17-6 record. Offensively, the Phoenix are led by CAA Rookie of the Year, Megan White. The freshman catcher batted .337 in the regular season and hit nine home runs. Towson’s Nicole Stockinger led the Tigers’ offense in the regular season, batting .350 with 14 home runs and 44 RBI. Julia Smith-Harrington batted .325 while also posting a team-best 2.20 ERA in the circle and striking out 58.
Top-seeded James Madison (44-7, 20-1 CAA), currently ranked 16
th by the National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA), will play the winner of Drexel and Charleston at 4 p.m. The Dukes won a program-record 20 games in CAA play this season, and will be looking to take home its third title in four years after falling to Hofstra in the 2018 championship game.
The Dukes have been dominant this season at the plate and in the circle, mostly to due to the efforts of CAA Player of the Year, Odicci Alexander, and CAA Pitcher of the Year, Megan Good. Alexander finished the regular season with a 20-1 record, a 2.02 ERA and 141 strikeouts, both good for second in the CAA. She was also a force in the batter’s box, hitting .354 with 14 home runs and 52 RBI. Good led the league with a 1.49 ERA, 172 strikeouts, and finished the regular season with a 18-5 record.
The losers of games one and two will play Wednesday evening at 6:30 p.m. in the tournament’s first elimination game.
The CAA Tournament continues on Thursday, May 9 with the winners of games two and three facing off at 12 p.m. The winner of game four and the loser of game three will play at 2:30 p.m., with the winner of that game playing the loser of the 12 p.m. game at 5 p.m.
The winner of game seven on Thursday will advance to the championship game scheduled for 12 p.m. on Friday, May 10, and will face the winner of game five. A second game will follow, if necessary.
2019 CAA Softball Championship
Wednesday, May 8
Game 1: No. 4 Drexel vs. No. 5 College of Charleston | 11:00 AM
Game 2: No. 2 Elon 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 9
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 10
Game 8: Winner Game 5 vs. Winner Game 7 | 12:00 PM
Game 9: (If necessary) *Immediately Following Game 8