Belhaven softball preps for familiar foe in Super Regional

JACKSON, Miss. (WLBT) - The Belhaven softball team won all three of its games in the Marshall Regional last week, allowing just two runs in the three games, and advanced to the NCAA D-III Super Regional for the second straight year.

“It was just fun, there’s no other words to describe it,” said junior center fielder Madi Miller. “It was just fun softball, good games all around.”

In two of those games, the Blazers defeated Texas Lutheran, who ended the Blazers’ season in last year’s Super Regional.

“We wanted to get them back, because they were the one who put us out last year, they were the one who ended the season for our seniors, and we didn’t want that to be the same story that written this year,” said fifth year catch Anna McNeer.

In the Super Regional, the Blazers will also be playing a familiar opponent, Berry College, the #2 team in the country.

The Blazers started their season against the Vikings, splitting a two-game series at home. The Vikings won game one 5-4 in nine innings, but the Blazers took game two 6-1.

Having a familiar opponent helps the team know what to expect in the series.

“In my opinion, it does help us, because we’ve seen what they have before,” McNeer said. “We played neck and neck with them, pitch by pitch. We were right there with them, but I think what we need to do going forward is hit a little better than we did last time, and I think now that we’ve played them, we have a little more confidence. We have all the information we need to take the win.”

Still, even with the prior experience, those games were in mid-February, and both teams have changed since then. The key to winning the game is in the preparation.

“We have a coach like Coach Kevin Griffin who does his research, does the studying for us, fully prepares us, and gets us equipped, so we can trust his instinct, trust in his coaching abilities,” Miller said.

While the Blazers are underdogs coming into the game, they have confidence that they can pull off the upset.

“We have to hit with ‘em, they’re extremely disciplined at the plate, they’re very good batters, defense is solid, but I think that our hitters are better, and the more we hit, the more we’re going to win,” McNeer said.

Game one between the Blazers and Vikings will be Friday at 2:00 CST, game two is Saturday at 1:00 CST, and if necessary, game three will be Saturday at 3:30 CST in Mt. Berry, GA.

Berry College will stream the games.

Want more WLBT news in your inbox? Click here to subscribe to our newsletter.

See a spelling or grammar error in our story? Please click here to report it and include the headline of the story in your email.

Copyright 2023 WLBT. All rights reserved.