Last week in review: For the second year in a row, the softball team finished second in the United East Conference to Penn State Brandywine, and for the second year in a row, because Brandywine is still in its provisional timeline of transitioning to Division III and is ineligible to advance, the Wildcats will represent the conference in NCAA Regional play.

Penn College’s regional championship draw will be revealed during the selection show at 11 a.m. on Monday. The regional round, featuring 42 automatic qualifiers and 11 at-large bids, is scheduled for Thursday-Saturday.

Also, 11 men’s lacrosse and two women’s tennis players were awarded all-conference honors.

On the horizon: In addition to softball this week, the men’s golf team is competing starting Tuesday in the NCAA Division III Championship at the Mission Resort and Club at Howie-in-the-Hills, Florida, and the coed archery team is competing starting Thursday in the USA Archery Collegiate Target Nationals at East Lansing, Michigan.

SOFTBALL

Last week’s hometown highlights: Riding on the arm of sophomore pitching ace Mackenzi Tice, of Mansfield, throughout the UE Final Four series, facing No. 2 Wilson College in Friday’s opener, Payton Crawford, of Bloomsburg, drove in two first-inning runs with a single, and the third-seeded Wildcats scored an unearned run in the top of the sixth for the win. In the circle, Tice improved to a program-record 21-2 with a five-hit effort.

Later Friday, facing top-seeded defending champion Brandywine, Crawford plated the lone Penn College run with a first-inning sacrifice fly, as Brandywine pitcher Isabella Hurta limited the Wildcats to three hits in outdueling Tice.

In Saturday morning’s elimination game against No. 5 Penn State Harrisburg, Crawford drilled a two-run homer in the first inning and Ryleigh Rinker, of Poway, California, singled in a run in the sixth, as Tice won her 22^nd game in the circle.

Going up against No. 1 Brandywine in another elimination contest on Saturday afternoon, the Wildcats fell behind 1-0 in the first inning before taking the lead with single runs in the second and third innings on RBI singles by Arista Fine, of Langhorne, and Taylor Brown, of Bellefonte, respectively. Brandywine tied the score in the fifth and won with a walk-off single in the seventh.

Over the two days, Tice went 2-2, throwing a total of 402 pitches with 18 strikeouts and five walks.

SCHEDULE

Home games at the Lumber Yards

Overall: 33-7

Final UEC: 18-4 (14-2 regular season)

United East Final Four (Double elimination at Penn State Brandywine)

Friday, May 8 — No. 3 Penn College (31-5, 16-2) vs. No. 2 Wilson College (30-9-1, 17-1), Penn College won, 3-2

Friday, May 8 — No. 1 Penn State Brandywine (31-7, 18-0) vs. No. 5 Penn State Harrisburg (24-12, 12-6), Brandywine won, 6-1

Friday, May 8 — No. 3 Penn College vs. No. 1 Penn State Brandywine, Brandywine won, 4-1

Friday, May 8 — No. 2 Wilson College vs. No. 5 Penn State Harrisburg, Harrisburg won, 2-0

Saturday, May 9 — No. 3 Penn College vs. No. 5 Penn State Harrisburg, Penn College won, 3-1

Saturday, May 9 — No. 3 Penn College vs. No. 1 Penn State Brandywine, Brandywine won, 3-2

NCAA Division III Regional

Thursday-Saturday, May 14-16 — TBA

MEN’S LACROSSE

Last week’s hometown highlights: Eleven players were UE all-conference selections, with Elliot Dotson, of Wilmington, Delaware, named the Offensive Player of the Year for the second season in a row, Ryder Palubinski, of Media, the Rookie of the Year, and Jordan Williams the Coach of the Year. Dotson and Palubinski are on the UE first team, along with Owen Kupsey, of Chadds Ford; Aidan McFalls, of Gilbertsville; Will Ehret, of Basking Ridge, New Jersey; Ben Malarkey, of Malvern; and Ryan Twist, of Great Meadows, New Jersey. On the second team are Tyler Diffenderfer, of Boyertown; Jake Small, of Bloomsbury, New Jersey; Ian Stambaugh, of Red Lion; and Antonio Santora, of Haskell, New Jersey.

WOMEN’S TENNIS

Last week’s hometown highlights: Junior Faith Murray, of Dillsburg, and freshman Kiera Wene, of Ephrata, received United East All-Conference recognition, with Murray named to the second team and Wene to the third team after helping their team to a program-record nine-win overall and eight-win, including a second-place, UE season.

GOLF

SCHEDULE

Tuesday-Friday, May 12-15 — NCAA Division III Championship at the Mission Resort and Club at Howie-in-the-Hills, Florida.

ARCHERY

SCHEDULE

Thursday-Sunday, May 14-17 — USA Archery Collegiate Target Nationals at East Lansing, Mich.

For additional information, visit the Wildcats Athletics website.

For more about the United East, visit the conference website.

For more about NCAA Division III, visit https://www.ncaa.com/news/softball/article/2026-05-04/2026-ncaa-diii-softball-championship-selection-info-schedule-and-dates