GORHAM, Maine  –  Locked in as the No. 5 seed the University of Southern Maine Huskies are preparing to compete at the 2024 Little East Conference Softball Championship Tournament May 8-11.  Southern Maine will face No. 4 Rhode Island College at 10:00 am on Wednesday to start its tournament run.
 
Hosted by No. 1 seed UMass Boston Beacons, the 2024 Regular Season Champions, the top six teams in the final regular season standing qualified for the double-elimination championship tournament. The top two seeds (UMass Boston and UMass Dartmouth) receive a first-round bye.
 
The 2024 Little East Conference Champion will receive the conference's automatic berth into the NCAA Division III National Championship Tournament, beginning with Regional Championships May 16– May 18. Sixty-two teams will be selected for the championship field to compete in 16 regional sites. The NCAA will host an online selection show on May 13 (11:00 am EST) announcing participating teams and regional sites.
 
THE BASICS
When: Wednesday, May 8 – Saturday, May 11, 2024 (Rain Date May 12, if needed)
Where: UMass Boston (Boston, Mass.) – UMB Softball Field
Participating Teams (Alphabetical Order) : Eastern Connecticut State University, UMass Boston, UMass Dartmouth, Rhode Island College, Southern Maine, VTSU Castleton.
 
THE HISTORY
The 2024 Little East Conference Tournament will be the Huskies' seventh postseason appearance in the past nine seasons, and fifth consecutive season. The Huskies have been the NO. 5 seed in the tournament four times (2006, 2007, 2010, 2015).
 
Southern Maine has won the Little East Conference tournament championship once (1998) and has finished as the tournament runner-up five times (2000, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2021).
 
In 21 appearances in the Little East Conference Tournament Championship (1996-2023* - no tourney in 2020), Southern Maine has played in 27-39 (.409 winning percentage). In 2023, the No. 3 Huskies opened the tourney with a 2-0 win over UMass Boston, before falling in back-to-back walk-off games to UMass Dartmouth 5-4 and Rhode Island College 4-3 (10 innings).
 

2024 Little East Conference Tournament Seeds

1. UMass Boston                                                                      28-10 (11-5)
2. UMass Dartmouth                                                                 24-12 (10-6)
3. Eastern Connecticut                                                              19-16-1 (10-6)
4. Rhode Island College                                                            28-10 (10-6)
5. Southern Maine                                                                    25-11 (9-7)
6. VTSU-Castleton                                                                    18-16 (7-9)

 

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2024 LEC Tournament Schedule

Wednesday – May 8, 2024
Game 1: No. 4 Rhode Island College vs. No. 5 Southern Maine
Game 2: No. 3 Eastern Connecticut vs. No. 6 VTSU Castleton
Game 3: Game 1 Loser vs. Game 2 Loser

 Thursday – May 9, 2024
Game 4: No. 1 UMass Boston vs. Game 1 Winner
Game 5: No. 2 UMass Dartmouth vs. Game 2 Winner
Game 6: Game 3 Winner vs. Game 5 Loser
 
Friday – May 10, 2024
Game 7: Game 4 Winner vs. Game 5 Winner
Game 8: Game 6 Winner vs. Game 4 Loser
Game 9: Game 8 Winner vs. Game 7 Loser
 
Saturday – May 11, 2024
Game 10: Game 7 Winner vs. Game 9 Winner
Game 11: if necessary

Sunday – May 12, 2024
Rain date
 

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About the 2024 Huskies

The Huskies are 25-11 overall and 9-7 in the Little East Conference. Southern Maine earned conference wins over Eastern Connecticut (1), UMass Dartmouth (2), UMass Boston (1), VTSU-Castleton (2), Western Connecticut (1), and Keene State (2).
 
As a team, Southern Maine is hitting .328 and is led by junior Abby Miner (Saco, Maine/Thornton Academy) and senior Madi Day (Otisfield, Maine/Oxford Hills). Miner is hitting .446 (54-for-121) with 13 doubles and six home runs with 22 RBI, while Day is hitting .400 (42-for-105) with 10 doubles and a team-leading 23 RBI.
 
Including Miner and Day, four Huskies have at least 20 RBI: senior Rona Scott (Beverly, Mass.) and graduate student Hannah Shields (Buckfield, Maine). Scott hits .288 with 11 doubles and one home run and 22 RBI, while Shields is hitting .311 with three doubles and 20 RBI.
 
Senior Belle Snyder (Epping, N.H.) and sophomore Lexus McIntosh (Lancaster, N.H./White Mountains Regional) led the way in the circle for the Huskies. Snyder is 8-4 (2-2 LEC), while McIntosh is 13-5 (6-3 LEC) with three saves. Holding opponents to a .211 batting average, McIntosh has a 1.63 ERA in 112.0 innings pitched with 98 strikeouts. Snyder has fired 70.2 innings for the Huskies with 52 strikeouts with a 3.96 ERA while holding opponents to a .257 batting averaging.
 
 

About the No. 4 Rhode Island College Anchormen

The No. 4 seed, RIC is 28-10 overall and 10-6 in the Little East. The Anchormen were 10-2 heading into the final weekend of conference play sweeping Western Connecticut, UMass Boston, Plymouth State, and the Huskies during the regular season before going 2-6 in their final four doubleheaders falling to UMass Dartmouth, Eastern Connecticut and VTSU-Castleton.
 
As a team, RIC hits .330 led by Avery Katz's league-leading .495 average. Katz also leads the LEC in runs scored (44), triples (8), and is second in walks (19).  She has 24 RBI. Katelyn Ashe, hitting .331, leads the LEC in RBI with 39. In the circle, the Anchormen have a team ERA of 1.99, and are led by Abby Kidd's 1.06 ERA. Kidd, 16-4 overall, has a pair of saves, and has struck out an LEC best 177. 
 
 
 
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