WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. - After finishing the regular season with a 22-16 overall record and an 11-7 mark in the conference, the fifth-seeded Williams College softball team will compete at fourth-seeded Bowdoin Saturday at 9:30 a.m. on Pickard Softball Diamond in Brunswick, Maine.
The winner of the Bowdoin-Williams matchup will advance to the semifinals Saturday at 2:30 p.m., and then the conference championship game occurs on Sunday at 11 a.m. All games will be played at Pickard Softball Diamond.
The Ephs won the 2026 Little Three title, going 2-0 at Amherst on May 2 and 1-1 against Wesleyan on April 26 at Cole Field. From March 30-April 12, Williams embarked on a 11-game winning streak.
During a 10-3 win in Game 1 of the doubleheader against Amherst, head coach
Kris Herman earned her 900th career victory. On April 7, junior
Katie Blanch was recognized as Division III Wilson/National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) Pitcher of the Week, while senior
Sadie Leonard was named NESCAC Pitcher of the Week on March 9 and 30. Williams ranks second in the NESCAC with eight conference championships, including hoisting the trophy in 2023 and 2024.
Leonard, a three-time NFCA All-American, has led the way for the Ephs this season. Leonard ranks first in the NESCAC in ERA (1.27), wins (14), strikeouts (212), complete games (13), shutouts (5) and innings pitched (121.1). The Tiburon, California, native ranks first in the nation among Division III student-athletes this season in strikeouts per seven innings (12.3) and second in total strikeouts.
On offense, 12 different Ephs have recorded double-digit hits. Seniors
Alysa DeQuiroz and
Sidney Miller and first-years
Miya Fujimoto and
Annabella Rychetsky have all maintained batting averages above .300. Miller leads the team in batting average (.367), hits (36) and slugging percentage (.520), while being tied for first in RBIs (20) and home runs (2). DeQuiroz has batted .330, to go along with 29 hits, 13 runs and 12 RBIs, while Fujimoto leads the team in runs (24) and ranks second with 33 hits.
Junior
Justine Dunaway leads the team in on-base percentage (.407) and sits in a tie for first in RBIs (20). Blanch leads the team in doubles (8), while also tallying 31 hits and 19 RBIs. Sophomore
Dani Jackman leads the team with three triples. First-year
Haley Barrett has tallied 31 hits, 14 RBIs and seven doubles.
The Polar Bears (27-8, 11-7 NESCAC) has been led this spring by Anika Ewert. She ranks first in the NESCAC in batting average (.625), runs (61), hits (70) and on-base percentage (.682). She leads the entire nation, including Division I, II and III student-athletes, in batting average and on-base percentage.
The Ephs and Polar Bears split their two-game season series, with Williams winning, 3-2, in Game 1, and Bowdoin responding with a 6-4Â victory in Game 2 on April 12 at Cole Field. The teams are meeting in the first round of the conference tournament for the second consecutive season, as the Polar Bears won by a score of 4-1 last year. Williams defeated Bowdoin, 10-2, in the semifinals of the 2024 NESCAC Tournament.
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