UConn Softball Makes Long-Awaited Return to NCAA Tournament
For the first time since 2001, a different type of UConn madness involving a bracket is extending to May.
Having prevailed in the Big East Tournament, for the first time since 2001, the UConn Huskies' softball team is returning to the NCAA Tournament. The Huskies learned their postseason fate on Sunday, which saw them placed in the Baton Rouge Regional with LSU, Nebraska, and Southeastern Louisiana.
The trek to the Women's College World Series begins on Friday against the Cornhuskers (3 p.m. ET, ESPN+).
“The first and foremost thing is to take in every moment,” UConn assistant coach Giselle Juarez, a 2021 national champion pitcher with Oklahoma, said at the team's bracket reveal watch party, per Dom Amore of the Hartford Courant. “It’s hard to be one of 64, it’s an honor to be one of 64. The game knows how much work you’ve been putting in.”
Seeded second on The Main Line, UConn won its record-extending eighth Big East title on the campus of Villanova University on Saturday, crushing Creighton by an 18-4 final in five innings. Savannah Ring drove in four runs while Lexi Hastings and Kaiea Higa put in three each.
The Huskies (35-17) carry two of the conference's top five hitters on their roster in Grace Jenkins (.424) and Cat Petteys (.401). Jenkins, a catcher, is also the conference's home run queen at 22 while she and outfield Kaitlyn Breslin finished one-two in RBI at 69 and 53 respectively.
Payton Kinney was the Big East's winningest pitcher at 15, the last coming in a five-inning effort on Saturday. For her efforts (throwing all but two of UConn's 18 innings at Villanova), the right-hander was named the Big East Tournament's Most Outstanding Player.
With one historic drought quenched, the Huskies will now look to end another: UConn has partaken in a WCWS since 1993 in Oklahoma City.
Geoff Magliocchetti is on X @GeoffJMags
