Cortland Softball Heading to Rowan for NCAA Four-Team Regional May 15-17
Cortland Sports Information Department
The Cortland softball team has earned a berth into the 64-team NCAA Division III tournament and will travel to Rowan University in Glassboro, N.J., for a four-team, double-elimination regional Thursday through Saturday, May 15-17.
Cortland (23-14) will face the host, top-seeded and nationally second-ranked Profs (43-2) Thursday at 11 a.m., followed by second-seeded Tufts (28-13) versus third-seeded RPI (28-11) at 1:30 p.m. Action continues with three games on Friday and the championship round (possible two games) on Saturday. the regional winner will advance to a two-team, best-of-three "super regional" May 22-23 versus the winner of the Salisbury-hosted regional at a site to be determined. The eight super regional winners will play in the NCAA Division III World Series May 29 - June 4 in Bloomington, Ill.
Cortland earned an NCAA automatic berth after winning the State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) tournament this past weekend. The Red Dragons were the top seed in the tournament by virtue of winning the conference regular-season title and won all three of their games in the tournament, capped by a 4-3 win over Oneonta in the first game of the championship round after a four-run rally in the bottom of the seventh inning.
Cortland will be making its 24th NCAA appearance and first since 2019. The NCAA showing is the first for the Red Dragons under head coach Molly O'Donnell, who took over the helm of the program in 2020. Cortland has advanced to the World Series eight times, including a national runner-up finish in 2013 and fourth-place showing in 2011. Cortland also won a regional title in 2017 before losing in the super regional round.
Cortland started off the season 4-12, with four of those losses coming in extra innings. The Red Dragons are 19-2 since, winning 16 of 18 games in SUNYAC regular-season play along with their three conference tournament victories.
Cortland and Rowan have met seven times previously, with Rowan winning six of those contests. Three of those meetings came during an NCAA regional at Cortland in 2016. Cortland lost 1-0 to the Profs on the second day of the tournament, and on the final day needing to win twice the Red Dragons rallied for a 13-12 victory after scoring five runs in the top of the seventh, only to have Rowan win the regional title with a 7-3 victory.
Cortland is 1-4 all-time versus Tufts. The Red Dragons lost twice to the Jumbos at the 2013 World Series, with the second game a 6-5 setback in the championship round as Cortland finished second nationally. Tufts also beat Cortland, 3-1, in the opening game of the 2009 World Series. Cortland defeated the Jumbos in 1999 and lost in 1987.
Cortland has a 4-6 lifetime record versus RPI, with two of those losses coming at RPI this spring. The Red Dragons fell to the Engineers 7-5 and 6-5, the latter in eight innings. Cortland's last win over RPI was a 10-2 win in five innings in the opening game of a home doubleheader in 2022.
Regional Website
