INDIANAPOLIS (May 17, 2021) – The Stevens Institute of Technology softball program will make its first NCAA Tournament appearance starting Friday against the State University of New York (SUNY) at Geneseo at 12:00 p.m. in Erie, Pennsylvania on the campus of Penn State University-Behrend.

The Ducks earned the #5 seed in the six-team Erie Regional and will be joined by #1 St. John Fisher College, #2 SUNY-Geneseo, #3 the University of Rochester (NY), #4 Penn State-Behrend and #6 York College of Pennsylvania.

The regional will be a double-elimination format with the winner of the #2 and #5 game taking on the winner of the #3 and #4 contest at noon Saturday and the losers facing off in a win-or-go-home matchup at 4:00 p.m. Friday afternoon.

Stevens is one of 48 teams who qualified for the NCAA Championship that will feature eight different six-team regionals with the winner of each regional advancing to the DIII Women's College World Series.

Stevens has posted a 22-8 record this season and won the MAC Freedom Tournament title with a 6-1 victory over Misericordia University Saturday, May 15 in Weehawken, N.J.

The Ducks have been fueled all season by a balanced offensive attack led by graduate student Samantha Schattin and a solid pitching rotation headed by senior Jessie Masur.

Schattin, the 2021 MAC Freedom Player of the Year, ranks 10th in all of NCAA Division III in batting average (.547) and fifth in on-base percentage (.609) among hitters who have played at least 10 games this season.

Masur, meanwhile, is 15-3 this season with a 1.51 ERA. The MAC Freedom Pitcher of the Year ranks inside the top-30 in DIII in WHIP, victories, shutouts and complete games this season.

Geneseo, the #2 seed in the regional, will be the Ducks first matchup after the Knights posted a 16-8 record on the year and won the SUNYAC Tournament title with a 9-5 win over SUNY-Cortland. The Knights will be making their third straight appearance in the NCAA Tournament, winning the Crestview Hills Regional and advancing to the Super Regional round for the first time in program history in 2019.

The top seeded team in the regional is St. John Fisher, the 14th-ranked team in the latest National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) poll. The Cardinals, a former Empire 8 foe for the Ducks, posted a 25-8 record this season and earned an at-large bid to the tournament after falling in the E8 Championship game against Alfred University.

St. John Fisher holds a 17-6 record all-time against Stevens with the Cardinals knocking the Ducks out of the E8 Tournament in 2019 with a 3-2 win in the last matchup between the two teams. Stevens has yet to face off with any of the other teams in the regional in the 11-year history of the program.

The #3 seed in the regional features the only other ranked team in the NFCA poll as No. 22 Rochester earned a bid after going 31-8 and winning the Liberty League title. The Yellowjackets will be making their eighth appearance in the NCAA Tournament and their first since 2016.

Rochester will face off with the regional host team #4 Penn State-Behrend who won the Allegheny Mountain Conference title and currently sits at 28-6 this season. Behrend won their ninth AMCC championship with a doubleheader sweep of Mt. Aloysius with a pair of shutouts.

Rounding out the bracket with the #6 seed is the MAC Commonwealth Tournament Champion York who head into the NCAA Championship 18-9 overall. Despite earning the #3 seed in the conference tournament, the Spartans rallied their way to the conference title in their first year in the league.

The three-day regional will take place from May 21-23 with the winner heading to the WCWS at Moyer Park in Salem, Virginia from May 27-June 1.

Click here to see all eight regional brackets from the NCAA.

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