GREENVILLE, Pa. – The Thiel Tomcats earned the second seed in the Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) Championship Tournament, which will be played on Thursday and Friday. The four-team, double-elimination tournament will be hosted by top-seeded Saint Vincent, which finished the regular season 25-13 overall and 13-3 in PAC play.
Under the direction of first-year head coach
Stephanie Fort, the Tomcats went 17-23 overall and 10-6 in PAC play during the regular season. Geneva (19-17, 9-7) earned the fourth-seed in the tournament while Westminster (18-16, 9-7) is the third-seed.
Thiel will open the tournament against the third-seeded Westminster Titans on Thursday at 10 a.m. while top-seeded Saint Vincent will face fourth-seeded Geneva at noon.
Thiel swept Westminster in early April (10-2, 3-0) at Tomcat Park. The Titans have won their last eight games, including PAC doubleheader sweeps over Chatham, Bethany and the top-seeded Saint Vincent Bearcats this past Saturday.
The Tomcats, who are still looking for their first PAC title, last qualified for the championship tournament in 2017. Pitcher and outfielder
Jessica Kelley (Freeport, Pa./Freeport) and shortstop
Vanessa Falce (McKeesport, Pa./McKeesport), both catalysts on this year's team, were named to the 2017 PAC All-Tournament Team.
Kelley currently leads the PAC with 64 hits and ranks third in the conference with a .438 batting average. Kelley also leads the PAC in innings pitched (141) and earned 10 regular-season wins in 2019, tying her for the third most in the league.
Falce is the league's leader in slugging percentage (.683), RBIs (38), doubles (18) and total bases (82). Outfielder
Leah Woytek (Hillsville, Pa./Mohawk) leads the PAC with 39 runs scored and ranks second in batting average (.468) and on-base percentage (.534).
As a team, the Tomcats lead the PAC in hits (379) and doubles (71). Thiel ranks second in the conference in batting average (.333), slugging percentage (.424) and on-base percentage (.388).
The winner of the PAC Championship Tournament will earn the league's automatic qualifying bid (Pool A) to the NCAA Division III Championship, with regional play set to begin Thursday-Sunday, May 9-11. Team and site selections for the Division III Softball Championship will be announced at 1 p.m. on Monday, May 6 and streamed on
www.ncaa.com.
The complete schedule for the PAC Softball Championship Tournament is below.
PAC Softball Championship Tournament schedule
Thursday, May 2 (at Saint Vincent College - Latrobe, Pa.)
Game A – #3 Westminster (18-16, 9-7 PAC) vs. #2 Thiel (17-23, 10-6 PAC) - 10 a.m.
Game B – #4 Geneva (19-17, 9-7 PAC) vs. #1 Saint Vincent (25-13, 13-3 PAC) - noon
Game C – Game A loser vs. Game B loser - 2 p.m.
Game D – Game A winner vs. Game B winner - 4 p.m.
Friday, May 3 (at Saint Vincent College - Latrobe, Pa.)
Game E – Game C winner vs. Game D loser - 11 a.m.
Game F – Game D winner vs. Game E winner - 1 p.m.
Game G – if necessary - 3 p.m.
• Rain date – Saturday, May 4 (times TBD)
• Note – times may be adjusted based on weather
