WAVERLY, Iowa – After earning its first NCAA Tournament berth since 1996, the top-seeded St. Olaf College softball team opens the Waverly Regional of the 2021 NCAA Division III Softball Championship on Friday morning against UW-Superior.

The Oles, who earned one of seven at-large bids into the national tournament, will take on No. 6 seed UW-Superior in the first game of the regional at 10 a.m. on Friday, May 21. That game will be followed by No. 2 seed St. Thomas against No. 5 seed Webster at noon and No. 3 seed MSOE and No. 4 seed Coe at 2 p.m.

Fans may attend the regional held at Wartburg's Lynes Field and tickets will be available at a daily rate of $8 for adults and $5 for seniors, students, and youth. Live video and live statistics will also be available throughout the three-day tournament.

The winner of the six-team, double-elimination regional will advance to the eight-team finals site in Salem, Va. Below is a team-by-team look at each of the six programs competing in Waverly this weekend.

No. 1 St. Olaf (24-6) | Roster | Schedule | Stats

How They Got Here: St. Olaf received an at-large bid into the regional after winning its first Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) regular season title in 25 seasons with a 20-2 record. The Oles also advanced to the championship game of the MIAC Playoffs for the first time in program history before falling to St. Thomas last weekend.
NCAA Tournament Appearances: Third (1985, 1996, 2021)
NCAA Tournament Record: 1-4
National Ranking: No. 24
Players to Watch: Julie Graf (Sr., P, First Team All-Midwest Region, 20-5, 1.21 ERA, 145.0 IP, 279 strikeouts, leads country in strikeouts and strikeouts per seven innings, second nationally in wins), Hannah Matthies (Sr., IF, Second Team All-Midwest Region, fifth in country in RBI per game (1.63) and seventh in RBI, .436 avg., 14 2B, 6 HR, 49 RBI, .752 SLG), Tarah DeCroock (Jr., OF, First Team All-Midwest Region, .380 avg., 3 HR, 15 SB, 19 RBI, 26 R)

No. 2 St. Thomas (28-8) | Roster | Schedule | Stats

How They Got Here: St. Thomas won the MIAC Playoffs for the 15th time in the 17 seasons of the tournament by defeating St. Olaf, 3-0, on Sunday. The Tommies outscored their opponents 22-2 in the tournament and finished their time in the MIAC with a 51-6 record in the conference playoffs.
NCAA Tournament Appearances: 28th (1985-86, 1988-89, 1991, 1997-2002, 2004-19, 2021)
NCAA Tournament Record: 81-53
National Ranking: No. 20
Players to Watch: Kierstin Anderson-Glass (Sr., UT/P, Second Team All-Midwest Region, MIAC Playoffs MVP, 14-3, 1.74 ERA, 124.0 IP, 120 K, 20-3 career postseason record, .416 avg., 24 RBI), Coryn Jacobson (So., OF, Third Team All-Midwest Region, 9-for-14 with eight RBI in MIAC Playoffs, .402 avg., 10 2B, 4 3B, 3 RH, 31 RBI, 41 R, 20 SB), Megan Baniecke (Jr., P/IF, leads team with .418 avg. and 4 HR, 23 RBI, 13 R, .658 SLG)

No. 3 MSOE (33-8) | Roster | Schedule | Stats

How They Got Here: MSOE won its second-straight Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference (NACC) Tournament title by defeating Benedictine, 2-0, in the third game of the best-of-three series. After the Raiders won game won, 3-0, on Friday, the Eagles forced a decisive game with a 3-0 win of their own on Saturday, but MSOE got a six-hit shutout from Lorrin Pondo in the decider to punch their ticket to the regional.
NCAA Tournament Appearances: 2nd (2019, 2021)
NCAA Tournament Record: 1-2
National Ranking: No. 23
Players to Watch: Lorrin Pondo (Sr., P, First Team All-Great Lakes Region, 20-3, 1.35 ERA, 18 CG, 150.1 IP, 161 K), Jenna Trewyn (Fy., C, First Team All-Great Lakes Region, .477 avg., 63 H, 14 2B, 1 HR, 27 R, 53 RBI, .500 OBP), Kara McKenna (Jr., IF, First Team All-Great Lakes Region, .449 avg., 66 H, 51 R, 15 2B, 5 3B, 5 HR, 29 RBI, .500 OBP, .721 SLG)

No. 4 Coe (24-13) | Roster | Schedule | Stats

How They Got Here: Coe claimed the A-R-C regular-season title for the first time since 2018 by sweeping Wartburg on the final day to earn the league's automatic berth into the NCAA Tournament. The title was the sixth in program history. The Kohawks went 1-2 in the A-R-C Tournament, falling to Buena Vista and Luther on either side of a win over Simpson.
NCAA Tournament Appearances: 18th (1990, 1994-95, 2000, 2002, 2005-09, 2011-14, 2017-2019, 2021)
NCAA Tournament Record: 46-36
National Ranking: No. 25
Players to Watch: Skyler Stookey (So., C, First Team All-Midwest Region, First Team All-A-R-C, leads team with .426 avg., 7 HR, 33 RBI, 32 R, .511 OBP, .704 SLG), Ellie Thurow (So., P, A-R-C Pitcher of the Year, First Team All-A-R-C, 12-6, 3.56 ERA, 112.0 IP, 10 CG, 102 K), Megan Weber (Sr., C, First Team All-A-R-C, .322 avg., 9 2B, 6 HR, 31 RBI, .568 SLG)

No. 5 Webster (20-10) | Roster | Schedule | Stats

How They Got Here: Webster returned to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in 13 years by winning the St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SLIAC) Tournament after outscoring its opponents 28-7 over four games. The second-seeded Gorlocks claimed their fifth SLIAC Tournament crown in school history with a 12-2 run-rule win over No. 3 seed Spalding on May 7.
NCAA Tournament Appearances: 8th (1998-2002, 2007, 2009, 2021)
NCAA Tournament Record: 9-14
National Ranking: Unranked
Players to Watch: Abby Burroughs (Sr., OF, First Team All-Midwest Region, SLIAC Player of the Year, .448 avg., 43 H, 9 2B, 2 3B, 6 HR, 25 R, 32 RBI, .485 OBP, .771 SLG), Sidney Holtz (Fy., IF, Third Team All-Midwest Region, Second Team All-SLIAC, .396 avg., 36 H, 8 2B, 20 R, 11 RBI, .429 OBP), Kirbie Mendenhall (Sr., P, First Team All-SLIAC, led SLIAC in wins and second in ERA, 9-2, 1.72 ERA, 61.0 IP, 4 CG)

No. 6 UW-Superior (22-14) | Roster | Schedule | Stats

How They Got Here: The Yellowjackets won three games on the final day to claim the fourth Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) Tournament title in program history and earn the conference's automatic bid into the field. As the No. 5 seed, UW-Superior defeated each of the other four teams to qualify for the five-team tournament, culminating with a sweep of Northwestern in the championship series by scores of 5-2 and 4-0.
NCAA Tournament Appearances: 4th (2002, 2004, 2016, 2021)
NCAA Tournament Record: 3-6
National Ranking: Unranked
Players to Watch: Tayler Kraemer (Fy., P, UMAC Tournament MVP, First Team All-UMAC, UMAC All-Defensive Team, 15-8, 2.21 ERA, 149.0 IP, 111K, led UMAC in ERA and innings), Olivia Bancroft-Hart (Jr., OF, Honorable Mention All-UMAC, UMAC All-Defensive Team, .357 avg., 5 3B, 29 R, 20 RBI, 12 SB), Kaela Kraemer (So., SS, Honorable Mention All-UMAC, leads team with .413 avg. and 25 SBs, 14 2B, 19 RBI, 40 R)