INDIANAPOLIS – The Southern New Hampshire University softball team earned its eighth selection to the NCAA Championship, receiving the East Region's No. 6 seed, as it travels to Adelphi University in Garden City, N.Y., for the East Regional 2 pod on May 14-16, the NCAA Selection Committee announced Monday morning when it released its field of 64 teams.
SNHU, which received an at-large bid, is in the NCAA field for the second consecutive season. The Penmen (33-21) will play their first game Thursday (May 11) at 2:30 p.m. when they take on third-seeded St. Thomas Aquinas College (33-12) at Adelphi's Janet L. Ficke Field. The winner plays against the victor of the earlier Thursday game between second-seeded Adelphi University (35-21) and the seventh-seeded University of Bridgeport (31-18), while the loser plays in an elimination game on Friday at 2 p.m. against the loser.
The winner of East Regional 2 will advance to the May 21-22 East Super-Regional – hosted by the highest remaining seed in the East – where it will battle the winner of East Regional 1, which is being played at top-seeded Franklin Pierce University (40-10) and also features fourth-seeded Caldwell University (29-19), fifth-seeded Assumption University (30-25) and eighth-seeded Mercy University (25-18). The team that comes away victorious will punch its ticket to the Division II Championship finals at Frost Stadium at Warner Park in Chattanooga, Tenn., from May 28-June 3.
The Penmen are 15-14 (.517) all-time in their eight NCAA postseason appearances, all under the leadership of 21st-year Head Coach Deb Robitaille. The Penmen advanced to the East Super-Regional in both 2015 and 2016. Southern New Hampshire has never met STAC in the NCAA postseason, although the Penmen own a 3-0 record all-time in games played early in the season in Florida. The Penmen did win two of five games with Adelphi, including 4-2 in an elimination game in the Northeast 10 tournament. The Penmen dropped a 5-3 decision to Bridgeport on March 3 in Melbourne, Florida.
Continue to check SNHUPenmen.com and all of the Penmen social media outlets for more information on the NCAA Division II East Regional 2.
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2026 NCAA Softball Championship – East Regional 2 (at Adelphi University)
Thursday, May 14
Game 1: No. 7 Bridgeport (31-18) at No. 2 Adelphi (35-21), Noon
Game 2: No. 6 SNHU (33-21) vs. No. 3 St. Thomas Aquinas (33-12), 2:30 p.m.
Friday, May 15
Game 3: Game 1 Winner vs. Game 2 Winner, 10:00 a.m.
Game 4: Game 1 Loser vs. Game 2 Loser, 12:30 p.m.
Game 5: Game 3 Loser vs. Game 4 Winner, 3:00 p.m.
Saturday, May 16
Game 6: Game 3 Winner vs. Game 5 Winner, Noon
Game 7: If Necessary, 30 minutes after Game 6
