PURCHASE, N.Y. – For the first time in program history, the #19 Manhattanville College softball team will take part in the NCAA Div. III Championship Super Regionals this weekend as the Valiants look to continue the best season in program history with a three-game series against Saint John Fisher College in Rochester, N.Y. on May 20-21.
 
Manhattanville and St. John Fisher will play a best-of-three series to determine which team advances to the College World Series, which will be held in Salem, Va., on May 26-31. The first game of the weekend is set for Friday at 1 p.m., followed by one game on Saturday at 1 p.m. The if-necessary game would follow at 3:30 p.m.
 
HOW MANHATTANVILLE GOT HERE: Manhattanville (41-3, 13-1 MAC Freedom) captured the first regional title in program history by going 4-1 at the Ewing, New Jersey, Regional this weekend. After starting the weekend with an 9-0 win over Neumann University on Friday, the Valiants needed a close 3-2 victory over the College of Staten Island on Saturday afternoon to reach the championship round. There, the second seed defeated top-seeded College of New Jersey twice, 5-0 and 1-0, to clinch the Super Regional berth.  Manhattanville is one of only five teams to reach the next round despite not entering regionals as the top seed.
 
NCAA TOURNAMENT HISTORY: The Valiants are making their sixth appearance in the NCAA Tournament in program history and the first since 2014, when the team reached the regional final for the first time. Manhattanville is 8-11 all-time in the NCAA Tournament, having made the tourney previously in 2002, 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2014. The squad is one of only three teams at Manhattanville to ever win a game in the national tournament and their eight NCAA Tournament victories are the most by any Valiant team.

REVERSAL OF FORTUNE: The Valiants are in the midst of one of the biggest single-season turnarounds in Division III history. Coming off of an injury-plagued 13-20 season in 2015, the team's 41-3 mark is a 22.5-game improvement, a mark that is tied with the 2013 Penn State Berks team for the biggest single-season turnaround in D-III softball history. The Valiants are one of three teams in the country with just three losses, along with #5 Luther College (39-3) and #11 Messiah College (42-3).
 
BIG BATS: While the runs have been a little harder to come by as the level of competition increases, the Valiants still enter the NCAAs as one of the top hitting teams in Division III. Manhattanville still leads the country in home runs per game (1.52) and slugging percentage (.657), and also ranks second in runs per game (8.32) and doubles per game (2.39), third in batting average (.381) and fifth in on-base percentage (.443).
 
RECORD SETTERS: Manhattanville has already set multiple team and individual records this season. Individually, freshman Sophia Chapelone (Carlsbad, Calif./La Costa Canyon) has scored a record 55 runs, classmate Aarin Hartenstein (Massapequa, N.Y./Plainedge) has hit 23 doubles, fellow newcomer Desiree Buboi (Villa Park, Calif./Orange Lutheran) has hit 14 home runs and amassed 120 total bases, and junior Alicia Marino (Mahopac, N.Y./Pleasantville) has driven in 55 runs. As a team, Manhattanville currently holds school single-season records for slugging percentage (.656), runs scored (366), hits (457), doubles (105), home runs (67), runs batted in (334), total bases (789), wins (41), shutouts (16) and games played (44).
 
SCOUTING THE CARDINALS: Saint John Fisher (36-10, 9-3 Empire 8) went 3-0 at its home NCAA Regional last weekend to advance, defeating Penn State Behrend by a 3-0 margin on Friday and then sweeping two extra-inning games from the University of Rochester, 2-1 (10 inn.) and 3-2 (8 inn.), on Saturday.
 
The strength of the Cardinals lies in their pitching staff, and particularly All-Northeast Region first-team selection Lindsey Thayer. The sophomore, who was named one of 10 finalists for the Schutt Sports/NFCA Div. III National Player of the Year award, boasts a 26-5 record with a 0.99 ERA, 13 shutouts and 405 strikeouts in 204.2 innings. Thayer has allowed more than two runs in a game only five times this season and three of her five losses in 2016 came against conference rival Ithaca College. She was named MVP of the Rochester Regional after allowing three runs and seven hits in 25.0 innings to earn three straight wins.
 
The Cardinal offense enters the weekend hitting .311 on the season, averaging 4.78 runs per game. Jennifer Knaak leads the team with a .389 batting average, 30 runs batted in and a .528 slugging percentage, while All-Region third-team selections Katie Mazierski and Ashley Prince follow by hitting .383 and .349, respectively. Mazierski has scored a team-leading 36 runs and boasts a .435 on-base percentage, while Prince has recorded 12 extra-base hits and drove in 23 on the season. Sarah Kubik has hit a team-leading four homers this year and delivered the regional-clinching base hit to beat Rochester on Saturday.
 
The Valiants and Cardinals have just one common opponent this season, Neumann University. Manhattanville shut out the Knights 9-0 to begin NCAA Regional play on Friday, while St. John Fisher beat Neumann 10-1 on Spring Break on March 3.
 
ALL-TIME VS. ST. JOHN FISHER: This weekend's games will be the first all-time meetings between the two teams on the softball field.
 
NCAA TOURNAMENT – ROCHESTER, NEW YORK SUPER REGIONAL
Friday, May 20, 2016
Game One – 1:00 pm: Manhattanville at Saint John Fisher 
 
Saturday, May 21, 2016
Game Two – 1:00 pm: Manhattanville at Saint John Fisher 
Game Three – 3:30 pm: Manhattanville at Saint John Fisher  (if necessary)
 
For those who plan on being attendance this weekend, single-session tickets are $6.00 for adults, $4.00 for senior citizens, veterans and students, and $3.00 children under 12 years old. If you can't make it to Rochester for the games, SJFC will have live stats for all games, which can be accessed at http://www.sidearmstats.com/sjfc/softball/. Manhattanville will also be providing in-game commentary (as well as off-the-field content) all weekend long on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
 
To view the official NCAA Division III Championships program, visit http://www.ncaa.com/diiisoftball. The complete NCAA bracket can also be viewed at http://www.ncaa.com/2016-diii-softball-regionals.