SAN ANTONIO — After taking care of business in the Heartland Conference by winning the regular-season and tournament crown, St. Mary's softball now moves ahead to the NCAA Division II South Central Regional tournament to enter the fight for the regional crown.
The Rattlers earned the No. 4 seed in the region after their 43-13 season, and will take on the No. 5 seed Midwestern State Mustangs at 4:30 p.m. Friday at host Texas Woman's in Denton, Texas.
St. Mary's has already gotten one look at Midwestern State in early March as the two faced off, with the Rattlers falling 8-0. Since that loss, however, the Rattlers have reeled off a 27-5 record.
The Rattlers' regional bracket will also include No. 1 seed Texas Woman's and No. 8 seed Incarnate Word. The second South Central Regional bracket, hosted by No. 2 West Texas A&M, will include No. 7 St. Edward's, No. 3 Colorado Mines and No. 6 Angelo State. Both tournaments will be double elimination with the winner from each advancing to play in a three-game series in the Super Regional. Complete brackets can be found on NCAA.com.
The Rattlers will enter the tournament backed by the Heartland Conference's Player of the Year
Nicole Sardelich (So., Angleton, Texas) and three-time Pitcher of the Year
Emily Brittain (Jr., Corpus Christi, Texas), as well as nine-time Coach of the Year
Donna Fields. Brittain currently ranks No. 5 in the nation for most victories with her 26-4 record while Sardelich led the conference in batting average at .454 while setting the St. Mary's single-season doubles record with 25. She ranks No. 2 in the nation in doubles. St. Mary's placed six on the All-Conference First Team and one on the team Second Team, while six earned All-Tournament team including the tournament MVP
Jared Gonzalez (Sr., San Antonio).
The well-experienced Fields has led the Rattlers to 12 conference championships over the past 13 seasons and has seen 10 regional tournaments in as many seasons, including four regional championships. The Rattlers surely have the stats to cause the regional contenders to take notice but all will come down starting Friday in each team's race for the national title.
Dating back to the 2011 season, the Rattlers have contended well with Midwestern State for a 5-6 overall series record.
St. Mary's University, as a Catholic Marianist University, fosters the formation of people in faith and educates leaders for the common good through community service, integrated liberal arts and professional education, and academic excellence. The University has six athletic national titles: men's basketball (1989–NAIA), baseball (2001–NCAA Div. II), softball (1986–NAIA and 2002–NCAA Div. II) and an individual national champion in men's golf (2006–NCAA Div. II) and a national academic championship in men's golf (2009–NCAA Div. II). St. Mary's also had more than 40 percent of its athletes named to conference, regional and/or national honor rolls this past year. St. Mary's student–athletes graduation rate is 65 percent, higher than the NCAA Division II average of 55 percent. To learn more about St. Mary's, visit www.rattlerathletics.com.
