SB: Lasell earns seventh seed in GNAC playoffs; Lasers headed to #2-seed Johnson & Wales

NEWTON, Mass. – The Lasell University softball team has earned the #7 seed for this week's Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) tournament and will travel to seventh-seeded Johnson & Wales University this Tuesday, May 4, for a first-round game.

The Lasers and Wildcats will meet at 4:00 p.m. Tuesday at the Scotts Miracle-Gro Athletics Complex Softball Field in Providence, R.I. Lasell wrapped up the regular season with an 8-12 overall record and a 2-10 mark in the GNAC under second-year head coach Sarah Woodside, while JWU completed a 16-7 overall campaign this spring with an 8-4 mark in conference play.

Tuesday's other first-round games include eighth-seeded Anna Maria College (4-20, 1-15) at top-seeded Emmanuel College (16-4, 9-1), sixth-seeded Norwich University (3-9, 2-6) at third-seeded University of Saint Joseph, Connecticut (12-6, 10-4), and fifth-seeded Rivier University (7-3, 5-3) at fourth-seeded Albertus Magnus College (11-5, 11-3).

The four winners on Tuesday will meet on Thursday, May 6, at the sites of the higher seeds, and the championship will be a 2-out-of-3 series on Saturday (and possibly Sunday), May 8-9, at the site of the highest remaining seed. The GNAC champion will earn the conference's automatic berth into the NCAA Division III National Championship Tournament.

Tuesday's first-round game will be the fifth meeting this season between Lasell and Johnson & Wales. The Wildcats swept the Lasers 5-2 and 16-7 (in five innings) in Providence on April 10, and 13-3 and 4-3 (in six innings) in Newton four days later.

Lasell has had a tale of two seasons this spring, winning its first eight games to get off to the best start in school history before suffering losses in their last 12 outings.

The Lasers are looking for their first career post-season victory in the GNAC since joining the conference in 2008. They dropped their first four first-round games from 2008-11, and missed the playoffs the next six years until suffering a tough 6-5 loss at Albertus Magnus College in 2018. The Lasers missed the playoffs in 2019 and last year's tournament was canceled due to the pandemic.

Tuesday's game will be the second postseason meeting between Lasell and JWU, as the sixth-seeded Wildcats defeated the seventh-seeded Lasers 4-1 in Providence in 2011.

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