ST. PAUL, MINN. – The St. Catherine University softball team is used to making history. The Wildcats have achieved quite a few firsts over the past two years, but this weekend may be their biggest accomplishment of all, as St. Kate's is set to host the University of St. Thomas in the NCAA Tournament Super Regional round this Friday and Saturday.
The Wildcats will be the first team from the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) to host a round of the NCAA Tournament. Despite the conference's success in softball, no school from the MIAC has hosted either a Regional or Super Regional of the NCAA Division III Softball Tournament. That's all about to change over the weekend, as St. Kate's and St. Thomas face off for the fourth time this 2017 season.
The Super Regional is a best of three series where the winner will advance to the Division III College World Series in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. The first game of the series will take place on Friday, May 19 at 4 p.m. and the second game will occur at 1 p.m. Saturday afternoon. If necessary, the Wildcats and Tommies will play at 3:30 p.m. on Saturday to determine who advances to the final dance.
Tickets for the weekend are $6 for adults, $3 for students and children under 12, and children under the age of two will get in for free.
Live stats and
live video will be available for all three games, weather pending, and score updates can be found on St. Kate's Athletics official Twitter page (@stkateswildcats).
Here are the five things to know before the Super Regional Showdown between the Wildcats and Tommies:
4th – This is the fourth time in history two MIAC teams have met in the NCAA Tournament. The first meeting occurred in 1985, when St. Thomas and St. Olaf squared off in the Regional. Since then, only Saint Mary's and St. Thomas have played each other in the NCAA Tournament, and the last meeting occurred in 2001.
2 – St. Kate's is making its second appearance in the NCAA Tournament in program history after earning an at-large bid to the tournament in 2016. However, this is the Wildcats first ever appearance in the Super Regional, as they lost to Luther in Game 7 of the Regional Championship last season.
26 – This will be the Tommies 26
th appearance in the NCAA Tournament and second straight appearance in the Super Regional. Last season, St. Thomas advanced to the College World Series after winning both the Regional and Super Regional but was the first team eliminated from the tournament.
No. 3 – In order to advance to the Super Regional, St. Kate's needed to beat the No. 3 ranked team in the nation, Luther College, twice in Decorah, Iowa, and that is exactly what the team did. The Wildcats pulled off the upsets in dramatic fashion, starting in game one. Junior shortstop
Kylie Macziewski (Bloomington, Minn. / Jefferson) made a game saving catch to clinch St. Kate's 2-1 opening game victory before
Amber Montero (Circle Pines, Minn. / Centennial) and
Jenna George (Ellsworth, Wis. / Ellsworth) helped the Wildcats record a dramatic 6-5 walk off win in game two.
5 – St. Kate's had five student-athletes earn All-MIAC honors after the regular season, including George, who was named the conference Player-of-the-Year. Joining George on the list were juniors
Krista Flugstad (Bloomington, Minn. / Jefferson) and Macziewski, while
Anna Hinderaker (Rosemount, Minn. / Rosemount) and
Amber Montero (Circle Pines, Minn. / Centennial) earned All-MIAC honors for the first time in their respective careers. Head Coach
Colleen Powers was named conference Coach-of-the-Year for the second straight season.
