Sports: Postseason Performances

RUNNING FOR THE TITLE: Catcher Hunter Gilbreath ’24 had two hits and drove in a run in Rochester’s first game in the Elite Eight round of the NCAA Division III softball tournament, the program’s first trip to the championships since 2014. (Photograph by Amber Searls/AP Images for the University of Rochester)

The Rochester softball team finished the season in seventh place nationally after advancing to the final round of the NCAA Division III championships for the second time in program history.

The Yellowjackets, ranked No. 14 in the nation at the end of the regular season, fell in two consecutive heartbreakers at the Elite Eight tournament in Salem, Virginia.

Rochester lost 3–2 on a walk-off home run to Birmingham Southern College in the first game and came up short against the University of St. Thomas in a 2–1 second game that started on Friday but was suspended by rain and restarted on Saturday.

The trip was Rochester’s second appearance in the NCAA’s final round, following a first appearance in 2014.

Along the way, the team set a program record for single-season victories, finishing at 35–10. Rochester’s softball coaching staff also earned honors for the season, selected as Liberty League Coaching Staff of the Year and as the Northeast Region Coaching Staff of the Year.

Joining the softball team with postseason appearances were the baseball team and the women’s and men’s track and field teams.

In baseball, the Yellowjackets advanced to regional competition in Marietta, Ohio, where Rochester ran into a Penn State Behrend buzzsaw and fell 11–1 in an elimination game. In the first regional game, fourth-ranked Marietta College defeated the Yellowjackets 9–6.

The program finished at 24–8 and claimed the Liberty League title to advance to the regionals.

In track and field, the Yellowjacket women finished with five All-Americans at the NCAA Division III outdoor track and field championships.

Graduate student Jordan Hurlbut ’20 placed third in the 1,500 meters with a time of 4:27.14, eclipsing the mark of 4:27.31 set by Josefa Benzoni ’88, ’92W (MA) in 1987, breaking one of Rochester’s oldest standing track records. Benzoni was a three-time NCAA champion.

The result gave Hurlbut, a microbiology and immunology student at the School of Medicine and Dentistry, All-American honors for the second time in her career.

The women’s 4-by-400-meter relay team of Michaela Burrell ’21 (T5), Kristin Hardy ’23, Eileen Bequette ’22, and Susan Bansbach ’23 also claimed All-American status with a third-place finish. The quartet’s NCAA time of 3:48.08 capped a season in which the group set the Rochester school record in the event on three different occasions, including during a preliminary heat at nationals.

For Burrell, the meet marked the sixth time she was named an All-American, but her first during the outdoor championships. Bequette and Bansbach each earned a third All-America honor, while Hardy claimed her second award.

In the men’s championships, Scott Sikorski ’23 finished 10th in the 1,500 meter finals, improving two spots from the preliminaries and crossing the finish line in 3:50.18. The time was a personal best for Sikorski, who was making his first appearance at the championships.