The Husson University softball team’s storybook season came to a close on Saturday, as the Eagles fell 4-0 to Williams College in the Bangor regional finals of the NCAA Division III national tournament.
Up against 6-foot-1 sophomore and regional tournament MVP Sadie Leonard (seven innings, 10 strikeouts, two hits), the Husson bats struggled to get going, and Williams senior Ronni Ramos (3-for-3) broke the game open with a three-run home run in the sixth.
It was the final game of a 2024 campaign in which Husson (37-6) won the North Atlantic Conference for the sixth straight time, was ranked No. 20 in the country, compiled a 30-game winning streak (tied for the school record across all sports), and never lost two games in a row.
“It was a great year. I couldn’t be more proud of these kids,” Husson head coach Rick Roberts said. “This team just kept battling. They never complained or said, ‘that’s not fair’. I’ve never coached a team like this, ever.”
The Eagles dropped their first NCAA tournament game to Framingham State (25-20) on Thursday, but staved off elimination yesterday with back-to-back victories over Rensselaer Polytechnic (34-7-1) and Framingham.
Williams (26-11), ranked third in the region and winners of the New England Small College Athletic Conference, also beat RPI 9-0 and Framingham 5-1, advancing to the super regionals (round of 16) in Texas.
Trailing 1-0 in the top of the sixth of Saturday’s game, Husson fifth-year student Katie Raymond drew a walk and then freshman Josie Cornell notched a bunt single off Leonard with no outs. Raymond advanced to third and then Cornell stole second. But Leonard and the Williams infield bore down to induce three straight outs, escaping the jam without allowing a runner to advance.
“We came here to play our best against three other really good teams,” Williams head coach Kris Herman said. “We had some great pitching and incredible timely hitting this weekend. There was a big momentum swing that we felt after the [top of] the sixth inning.”
Husson’s freshman ace pitcher Ana Lang of Searsport (1.28 ERA) kept the Eagles in it through five innings, striking out five, but the heart of Williams’ order figured her out the third time around, and she conceded two base knocks and then the Ramos homer before closing out the frame.
Led by Lang and sophomore Dani Masterson (1.44 ERA) of Hampden, the Eagles’ young pitching staff was their mainstay this season, allowing just four earned runs in the national tournament and compiling a 1.71 team ERA on the year.
“The oldest pitcher we have is a sophomore. We have five kids we can turn to at any time,” Roberts said. “We’re losing some great players, but the youngsters we have coming up will pick up the slack. This team’s gonna be great.”
The Eagles will graduate just five of their 25 players this offseason: Kenzie Dore (.500 batting average) of Brewer, Julia Gregoire (.371) of Lyman, Jess Pomerleau (.328) of Greenville and New Hampshire natives Katie Raymond (.223) and Olivia McCarty (.128).
“This team is the life of the party. No matter what, we’ve got funny hats on and are cheering each other on,” Dore said. “We always want to play another game, but I couldn’t think of a better way to go out, with this group of girls in front of our home fans. I had so much fun with them.”
