The UMass Minutewomen softball team represents the

University of Massachusetts Amherst The University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMass Amherst, UMass) is a public research university in Amherst, Massachusetts and the sole public land-grant university in Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Founded in 1863 as an agricultural college, it ...

NCAA Division I NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest level of intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major collegiate athleti ...

college softball College softball is softball as played on the intercollegiate level at institutions of higher education, predominantly in the United States. College softball is normally played by women at the Intercollegiate level, whereas college baseball is n ...

. The team participates in the

Atlantic 10 Conference The Atlantic 10 Conference (A-10) is a collegiate athletic conference whose schools compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's (NCAA) Division I. The A-10's member schools are located in states mostly on the United States Easte ...

(A-10). The Minutewomen are currently led by head coach Danielle Henderson. The team plays its home games at Sortino Field located on the university's campus.

History

Since joining the

in 1983, the Minutewomen have had a significant amount of success. UMass has won the Atlantic 10's regular season championship 24 times, the conference tournament 23 times, and qualified for the

NCAA Division I softball tournament The NCAA Division I softball tournament is held annually in May/June and features 64 college softball teams in the United States, culminating in the Women's College World Series (WCWS), which is played in Oklahoma City. Tournament play and team s ...

21 times, all conference records. The program rose to prominence after the hiring of

Elaine Sortino Elaine Sortino (October 28, 1949 – August 18, 2013) was a college softball coach. She was the head coach at University of Massachusetts Amherst, UMass from 1980 to 2013. With 1,185 wins in 34 years as a head coach, Sortino ranks among the high ...

in 1980. Under Sortino, the Minutewomen had one losing season in 34 years and advanced to the

Women's College World Series The Women's College World Series (WCWS) is the final portion of the NCAA Division I softball tournament for college softball in the United States. Eight teams participate in the WCWS, which begins with a double-elimination tournament. In other wo ...

three times, doing so in 1992, 1997, and 1998. In the

1992 NCAA Division I softball tournament The 1992 NCAA Division I softball tournament was the eleventh annual tournament to determine the national champion of NCAA women's collegiate softball. Held during May 1992, twenty Division I college softball teams contested the championship. Th ...

, UMass qualified for the Women's College World Series after defeating and eliminating

Connecticut Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its cap ...

and

Utah State Utah State University (USU or Utah State) is a public land-grant research university in Logan, Utah. It is accredited by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities. With nearly 20,000 students living on or near campus, USU is Utah's ...

. After being defeated by eventual National Champions

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a Normal school, teachers colle ...

, the Minutewomen were sent to the loser's bracket. The team went on to defeat

Florida State Florida State University (FSU) is a public research university in Tallahassee, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida. Founded in 1851, it is located on the oldest continuous site of higher education in the sta ...

and

Long Beach State California State University, Long Beach (CSULB) is a public research university in Long Beach, California. The 322-acre campus is the second largest of the 23-school California State University system (CSU) and one of the largest universities i ...

, advancing to the final four of the tournament. They were again defeated and eliminated by UCLA. In the 1997 tournament, UMass hosted their own regional for the first time in program history. The team defeated

Boston College Boston College (BC) is a private Jesuit research university in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. Founded in 1863, the university has more than 9,300 full-time undergraduates and nearly 5,000 graduate students. Although Boston College is classifi ...

twice and Colorado State three times to advance to the Women's College World Series. The Minutewomen were eliminated from the tournament after losing to eventual National Champions

Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States. It is the list of U.S. states and territories by area, 6th largest and the list of U.S. states and territories by population, 14 ...

and

Fresno State California State University, Fresno (Fresno State) is a public university in Fresno, California. It is one of 23 campuses in the California State University system. The university had a fall 2020 enrollment of 25,341 students. It offers bachelo ...

. In the 1998 tournament, UMass again hosted their own regional and advanced to the Women's College World Series after defeating Boston College once and Oklahoma twice. The team was eliminated from the tournament after losing to

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

and

Oklahoma State Oklahoma (; Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a state in the South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the north, Missouri on the northeast, Arkansas on the east, New ...

. Sortino was named Atlantic 10 Coach of the Year 11 times, winning the award each year from 1991 to 1993, 1995, 1996, 2001, 2002, 2007 to 2009, and 2012. Kristi Stefanoni, who replaced Sortino after she passed away in 2013, was named A-10 Coach of the Year in 2018. UMass has won A-10 Player of the Year 15 times in its history, doing so each year from 1990 to 1993, 1996, 1999, 2001 to 2004, 2006, 2009, 2010, 2012, and 2018. The program has won A-10 Pitcher of the Year 17 times, winning in 1994, 1995, 1997 to 1999, 2001 to 2003, 2006 to 2012, and 2018. Current head coach and former pitcher Danielle Henderson was named to the

2000 Summer Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad and also known as Sydney 2000 ( Dharug: ''Gadigal 2000''), the Millennium Olympic Games or the Games of the New Millennium, was an international multi-sport event held from ...

, winning a gold medal with

Team USA The United States national team or Team USA may refer to any of a number of sports team representing the United States in international competitions. Olympic teams Additionally, these teams may compete in other international competitions such as ...

Coaching history

Roster

Season by season results

Season cut short due to

COVID-19 Pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identified ...

References

External links