Manhattan to Face No. 6 Arkansas in Fayetteville NCAA Softball Regional
EDISON, N.J. (May 16, 2021) – Manhattan College (22-14, 17-13 MAAC), the 2021 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Softball Champions, will be traveling to Fayetteville to take on No. 6 Arkansas (40-9, 19-5 SEC) in the Jaspers opening game. Joining the Jaspers and Razorbacks in Fayetteville is Stanford (31-20, 9-12 PAC-12) and South Dakota State (42-6, 21-1 Summit). The Regional is a double-elimination style tournament between the four teams, with the winner moving on to the Super Regional. Manhattan will face off against Arkansas on Friday, May 21 at 1:00 p.m. EST at Boggle Park.
The Jaspers clinched their first MAAC Championship since 1999 by defeating Canisius College on Saturday by a score of 6-3. Manhattan was sixth seed in the MAAC Championship Tournament and earned a spot in the championship round after defeating third-seeded Iona in a best of three series 2-1 in the quarterfinals. The Jaspers would then go 3-0 in the championship round defeating fourth-seeded Fairfield, eight-seeded Marist and second-seeded Canisius to claim their title.
Manhattan’s pitcher Nicole Williams was named the MAAC Softball Championship’s Most Outstanding Player. Williams was a perfect 5-0 in the MAAC Softball Championship going 2-0 in the quarterfinals and 3-0 in the championship round. She pitched 35.1 innings over the course of the tournament, striking out 42 batters and only giving up nine earned runs. Williams was also named to the All-MAAC Second Team this year. Annie Moore was the other Jasper to earn All-MAAC honors as she was named to the First Team. Moore this season hit .361, had five home runs, and recorded 20 RBIs.
For more information on the 2021 NCAA Softball Tournament, visit
ncaa.com.
About the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference:
With 11 institutions strongly bound by the sound principles of quality and integrity in academics and excellence in athletics, the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) celebrates its 40
th year of competition during the 2020-21 academic year. Current conference members include: Canisius College, Fairfield University, Iona College, Manhattan College, Marist College, Monmouth University, Niagara University, Quinnipiac University, Rider University, Saint Peter’s University, and Siena College.