By: COURTESY OF HUSSON SPORTS INFORMATION
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – The NCAA announced its 2026 field for the Division III Softball Tournament on Monday and the No. 19 Husson University softball team was chosen as a regional host.
The Eagles will host the four-team, double-elimination tournament from May 14-16 at O'Keefe Field and will be joined by No. 25 Massachusetts Institute of Technology, RV Colby College and Endicott College.
Husson (36-4) captured its eighth-consecutive North Atlantic Conference title this past Saturday with an emphatic 18-0 win over Thomas College, as junior Ana Lang pitched a five-inning no-hitter in the win and was named tournament MVP, while head coach Rick Roberts earned his 100th win in his tenure as Husson head coach.
MIT (33-9) earned an at-large bid after falling to No. 12 Worcester Polytechnic Institute in the New England Men's and Women's Athletic Conference Championship and are the No. 2 seed in the regional. The Engineers are making their seventh-straight NCAA appearance and ninth overall, with all eight coming since 2015.
Colby (26-11) also earned an at-large bid into the field after dropping a heart-breaking semifinal matchup in the New England Small College Athletic Conference tournament to second-seeded and eventual champion, Middlebury College, 6-4 in 11 innings. The Mules are making their first-ever appearance in the NCAA tournament.
Endicott (26-13) took both games of the Conference of New England Championship series from Roger Williams University to pick up its first CNE title since 2023. The Gulls are making their 15th NCAA tournament appearance in program history and are no stranger to competing in Bangor for the regionals, as they competed at Husson for the regional tournament in 2021.
Husson and Endicott will kick off the tournament on Thursday at 11 a.m. and MIT and Colby will conclude day one with the second game at 1:30 p.m.
The Eagles are hosting their third regional in program history, with all of them coming since 2021, while they are still looking for their first regional title in program history, as they fell to Williams College in the 2024 Bangor, Maine Regional in the championship series, in addition to falling short in the regional title game to Tufts University in the 2021 Bangor, Maine Regional.
Husson is one game shy of matching the most wins in a season in program history, while Lang ranks top 5 in all of Division III in ERA, hit allowed per seven innings, strikeouts, strikeouts per seven innings and WHIP, including ranking tops in the country in total strikeouts.