BANGOR — The Husson University softball team did it the hard way.
The Eagles lost the opening game of the North Atlantic Conference Tournament before winning four games to capture the tournament for the first time since 2015 and earn a 345-mile bus trip to Williamstown, Mass., for a four-team NCAA Division III regional tournament on the Williams College campus.
The Eagles, 21-13, will take on the host Ephs (35-6), the nation’s 22nd-ranked team, in Friday’s 3:30 p.m. game after western Massachusetts neighbors Amherst College (27-6) and Western New England College (24-16) play the tourney opener at 1 p.m.
Western New England, located in Springfield, and Amherst are separated by 26 miles.
Williams is making its fifth consecutive NCAA tournament appearance while Husson has earned eighth berths over the last 13 years.
Husson is the only team from Maine in the tournament.
On Monday, the Eagles were reflecting on their dramatic tourney championship and looking ahead to Friday’s NCAA Tournament opener.
After losing to Thomas College of Waterville 2-0 in the opener at O’Keefe Field on the Husson campus in Bangor, the Eagles eliminated Castleton (Vt.) 4-0 and Thomas (1-0) to reach the championship round where they beat New England College (N.H.) 9-1 on Saturday and 4-1 on Sunday.
After going 0-2 in NCAA Tournament appearances in 2006, ‘09, ‘10, ‘11 and ‘12, the Eagles have won at least one game in their last three appearances. Husson went 1-2 in 2013 and 2014 and 2-2 in 2015.
Husson and Williams did have one common opponent: Brunswick’s Bowdoin College. Williams beat the Polar Bears three times but all were close games while Husson split with the Polar Bears.
Williams beat Bowdoin 3-1 and 6-5 during the regular season and 5-3 in the NESCAC Tournament while Husson bested Bowdoin 7-4 before losing 10-1 in five innings.
“We’re really excited that we get to stay in New England,” said Husson senior outfielder Casey Heath, one of the captains. “All we know about [Williams] is what coach [Terren Allen] told us. They only beat Bowdoin by a couple of runs and we beat Bowdoin once.
“So we can probably keep up with them. We’re going to go and have fun,” Heath added.
“It’s a good bid. I think we’ll do well,” said Allen, who is in her fourth season at Husson. “We’ll find about them. We’ll scout them, look at their stats and come up with the best game plan we can.”
In 2015, in Allen’s first year at Husson, she led the Eagles to a berth in the regional final where it lost to Wheaton (Mass.) in the championship round 13-2. The Eagles had beaten Eastern Connecticut State 7-0 to open the tourney, lost to Wheaton 5-1 and then beaten Johnson and Wales (R.I.) 3-0 to reach the final.
Sophomore pitcher Jen Jones from Acton and Sanford High School turned in a remarkable performance in the NAC tourney, pitching five complete games and allowing just four runs in 35 innings with 37 strikeouts, six walks and two shutouts.
“It feels great,” said Jones. “All our hard work all season long paid off big. It was a team effort. It wasn’t any one of us. We all worked together to win it. It’s just a good feeling.”
The Eagles committed just three errors in the five games to support Jones, who was named the tourney MVP.
“We lost the first one but we didn’t give up. That’s how our team is. We kept fighting through which is awesome,” said sophomore designated player Morgan Coleman, also from Acton.
Two other sophomores, second baseman Bri Brochu from Pittston and shortstop Chloe Gorey from Scarborough, were the offensive catalysts and were chosen to the all-tourney team along with junior right fielder Olivia Smith from Calais. Brochu hit .611 (11-for-18), Gorey hit .533 (8-for-15) and Smith hit .400 (6-for-15). Each scored three times and knocked in two runs.
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