GLASSBORO, NJ -- #20 Rowan will take on #5 Trine on Thursday in the Profs' opening game of the 2023 Division III Softball Championship starting at 7:30 p.m. Eastern time (6:30 p.m. local).

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The Profs are one of eight teams in Marshall, Texas for the double-elimination tournament. East Texas Baptist University will serve as the host.

Rowan (41-8) earned an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament and made its way to Texas after capturing the Marietta Regional and then winning the Ashland Super Regional at Randolph-Macon last weekend. This will be the seventh time in program history and the first since 2018 that the team has made the Championship Series. The Profs feature six All-Conference and five All-Region players, and an All-American in their ranks. Sophomore pitcher Rylee Lutz, who was named an NFCA Third-Team All-American, the NJAC Pitcher of the Year and first-team NFCA All-Region, has a 23-6 record with nine shutouts in 28 starts and 36 appearances with one save and a 1.64 ERA.  

The Thunder (40-4) won Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MIAA) Tournament, and remained at home in winning the Angola Regional then the Super Regional over Concordia-Wisconsin. Trine, the national-runners up a year ago, appear in the Championship Tournament for the second-straight year and fifth time in team history. Trine is led by a pair of All-Americans in freshman Debbie Hill (first team) and Anna Koeppl (second team). Hill, the 2023 TUCCI/NFCA Division III Freshman of the Year, leads the team with a .447 batting average with 22 runs, 17 doubles, 13 homers, and 50 RBI's. In the circle, she is 11-3 in 11 starts with a 1.08 ERA. Keoppl owns a 0.33 ERA with an 15-0 record in 18 starts.

The Profs will serve as the #6 seed in the tournament with the Thunder at #3.

Other opening games on Thursday include #1 Salisbury vs. #8 Moravian, #4 Christopher Newport vs. #5 Berry, and #2 Linfield vs. #7 Coe. Action continues through the weekend and into Tuesday, June 6, when the championship finals begin.