Softball Appears in Season’s First NCAA Regional Poll

Softball Appears in Season’s First NCAA Regional Poll
The UB women’s softball program, under the direction of 2004 NYCAC Coach of the Year Valerie Steen, is ranked in the season’s first NCAA Northeast Regional softball poll. The regional committee is made up of coaches and athletic administrators from the region’s colleges and universities. The ranking is UB’s first regional ranking in over a decade for softball.
The Purple Knights currently stand at 5-7 overall and 0-2 in the NYCAC as the team has also had a number of doubleheaders postponed and cancelled due to inclement weather throughout the Northeast. UB has a regional record of 5-6 that includes a two-game sweep of Stonehill and single victories over St. Anselm, Holy Family and Bloomfield. The Purple Knights are 1-2 against other teams appearing in the first regional poll. The teams were not ranked for the first poll, just listed alphabetically to recognize the top-10 in each respective region through the early part of the schedule.
Transfer Sarah Mantor leads the team at the plate through 12 games as she is batting .381 with nine runs scored, 16 hits and 10 runs batted in. Included in her totals is a grand slam in an 11-8 road win over Bloomfield. Overall, five UB batters are hitting over .300 so far. Samantha Mantor and Dawn Clasen have shared the teams pitching duties, with Mantor posting a 2-4 record and Clasen 3-3 overall.