Generals returning to Syracuse for national softball tournament

SYRACUSE — The NJCAA’s Division III softball championship returns to Carrier Park this week, and Herkimer College has bigger plans as hosts along with its goal to win a second title.

Herkimer finished third last year and enters the new tournament seeded fourth among eight teams. Rock Valley College and Corning Community College, last year’s finalists, are the top two seeds as Rock Valley from Illinois begins the quest for its eighth consecutive championship.

Rock Valley has won every national tournament since Herkimer won in 2013. There was no 2020 season because of the coronavirus pandemic. The streak will end this year for the Eagles, win or lose, as Rock Valley is making the move to Division I competition for the 2022-23 academic year.

Monroe College-Bronx joins Herkimer and Corning to give New York a third team in a field that also includes Brookdale Community College from New Jersey, Middlesex Community College from Massachusetts, Minnesota’s St. Cloud Technical and Community College, and the North Dakota College of Science.

More: Generals sweep into ninth consecutive national softball tournament

Welcome back

While the tournament returns four teams from last year – Herkimer, Corning, Rock Valley and North Dakota State – the bigger welcome awaits Herkimer coach PJ Anadio to the Generals’ dugout.

Anadio has been away from his team for more than a month for health reasons and was cleared Sunday to make his return.

“The girls are in a really good place,” Anadio said Monday. “The announcement yesterday was a pretty cool moment.”

In Anadio’s absence, the Generals skipped no beats on the way to winning a 10th consecutive Region III title – Herkimer is the B champion; Corning won Region III-A – and earning a return to the national tournament.

Veteran assistant coaches Tony Kurucz and Jake Haney and former Herkimer players Keeanna Woicik, Paige Crittela and Julianna Finnerty have a guided a team that has won its last eight games, 27 of 29 with a pair of losses to Corning, and a 30-2-1 record since returning home from Spring Break.

“I think this speaks volumes about how we’ve built this program,” said Anadio whose Generals won the last national championship before Rock Valley started its streak and have battled the Eagles in multiple tournament finals.

“You don’t rise to a moment,” he added. “You sink to the level of your training and we take pride in our training. We do all of our coaching from September to March. Once March hits, it’s the players’ time.”

Anadio had thought he’d be back for the end of the regular season and hoped to be with the team for regionals. The final clearance did not come until this weekend.

The schedule

A subtle format change has removed the possibility of one team playing three games on the final day as had been the case in previous years. First round games will be played Tuesday at noon and 2 p.m. using both fields at the Carrier complex, and the Game 1 winners will play their second games later in the day.

The winners bracket semifinal is Thursday evening, and the championship round will be played Saturday. The other six teams will sort themselves out Thursday and Friday with the semifinal loser added to the mix on Friday.

Herkimer (32-7-1) opens up against No. 5 Brookdale (30-10) on one field Wednesday at noon while No. 1 Rock Valley (44-11) and No. 8 Monroe (26-14) play on the other. The winners of those games play later at 5 p.m.

In Wednesday’s 2 p.m. games, No. 2 Corning (37-6) plays No. 7 St. Cloud Tech (38-3) while No. 6 Middlesex (23-7) meets No. 3 North Dakota State (37-10). The second game for those winners is scheduled for 7 p.m.

Herkimer College’s path

The Generals entered the Region III tournament as the No. 2 overall seed behind Corning and top seed in Region III-B. Herkimer swept their best-of-three semifinal series against Erie Community College, winning 8-0 and 18-3 May 14, then beat Hudson Valley Community College 9-4 and 9-1 at home Wednesday.

Several players return from last year’s semifinalists, including Alexis Van Patten who was a tournament all-star in Syracuse.

Van Patten is one of six regulars batting over .350 for the Generals, who are led by freshman Hailey Hunter (.432) and sophomore Michaela Ponticello (.431). Ponticello also leads the team with seven home runs and 53 runs scored, while Hunter is second on the team with 42 runs batted in and tied for third with five home runs.

Angeline Montanez (.361), Maddison Puppolo (.355) Maiya Reinhart (.354) and Van Patten (.354) are the other .350 hitters. Reinhart has six home runs and 45 runs batted in; Reinhart and Van Patten have each crossed the plate 46 times, Puppolo, a two-way player, has five home runs; and Montanez and Ponticello have driven in 38 and 37 runs, respectively.

Puppolo has nine pitching victories, including the six-inning playoff shutout of Erie. Elora Wilmot has a 12-0 record, and Anadio believes Herkimer’s pitching is deeper entering this tournament than it was one year ago.

Past success

Herkimer won its only national softball championship in 2013 and Rock Valley has won all seven since then.

Corning and Brookdale also are past national champions. Corning won the 1997 title in the NJCAA’s first year of divisional competition. Brookdale won titles in 2002, 2005 and 2010.

Erie was the only Region III school to win a national championship under single-division play from 1977 through 1996. The Kats won the 1980 invitational tournament and repeated the following year when a qualifying process was first adopted.

Monroe Community College from New York’s Rochester area won three championships in a row 2006-08 but is a separate school from the Monroe College from the Bronx that is competing in the tournament this year.

This is the tournament’s second year in Syracuse after a move from Rochester, Minnesota.

Off the field

The tournament kicks off with a barbecue banquet for the teams Tuesday evening

Players and coaches from the eight participating schools will be putting on clinic for young players from the DeWitt area.

“Maybe we will inspire a few kids to want to play at this level someday,” Anadio said. “It’s a pay-it-forward mentality. All of the players here for the tournament have been in their shoes when they were younger.”

Jon Rathbun is a sportswriter for the Times Telegram. Email Jon at sports@timestelegram.com.

This article originally appeared on Times Telegram: Generals returning to Syracuse for NJCAA softball tournament