NEWPORT NEWS, VA (WTKR)- One side street separates Christopher Newport's baseball and softball facilities. This week, both will be alive with the sights and sounds of NCAA Tournament action.
Both Captains' teams host four-team NCAA Regionals on their respective home fields. The softball event runs Thursday-Saturday, while the baseball regional will span Friday-Sunday. The programs get a chance to share in the excitement with each other as they push towards hopeful national championships.
"It's great having two great programs here with baseball and softball," said CNU head softball coach Keith Parr. "The seasons that both of us have put together and to be able to host is just tremendous. It's going to be an exciting environment here this weekend."
"The thing about it for me, and actually Coach Parr as well, we graduated from here," Captains' baseball coach John Harvell added. "We were both fortunate enough to play here, so to be able to be in this situation as a coach, I think it has that much more meaning for us."
Parr's softball squad is 30-5 and opens the festivities Thursday at noon against John Jay. The Captains are making their 17th consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance and are hoping to repeat their success from 2022. That's when the program captured its first national title and many of this year's players have plenty of experience playing in big games and picking up crucial victories in the NCAA Tournament.
"I remember my freshman year pitching in these games and basically shaking out of my boots," smiled junior softball pitcher Jamie Martin. "It's definitely nice to have that experience, to be able to have that confidence in yourself and just know that you've been here before and you can do it again."
"Them being able to actually go through some of those experiences and be able to talk through with some of the newcomers, there's some definite comfortability about it and that's one big thing at this time of year," Parr noted.
CNU baseball battled injuries throughout the season, but weathered the storm and enter the NCAA Tournament 26-9. The Captains are in the Big Dance for the third straight year and are hosting for the second time since 2019. They're getting to be healthy at the right time and believe their best baseball is still yet to come, which is a good feeling going into the postseason.
"We have yet to put our line-up out on the field that we were expecting to put out at the beginning of the season," Harvell pointed out. "I think right now, we're at the closest point to that and you could see it last weekend in the conference tournament."
"I don't think we've played our best baseball," said senior outfielder Scott Crosson. "Right now we're just starting to click and we have Jake Benedict back in the line-up, who was injured, one of our outfielders. I think it's just now going to start, our best baseball."
The Captains face Immaculata to get things going Friday at 10:00 AM.
Both teams are no strangers to this stage and have earned the chance to play in front of their home crowd on familiar surfaces. That's a comfort that goes a long way in any squad's quest to advance, as the Captains hope to put on a show on both sides of the street.
"The energy at Captains Park is always so vibrant and fun," Martin said. "It's nice to have our families and friends here with us to support us."
"For one, the familiarity of our field and our fans being able to come watch us," Harvell added. "I've preached to them all year long 'let's put ourselves in a position to host.' We've done that the last couple weekends and you can just see the comfort level in their play when we play at home."
Winners of each regional advance to next weekend's NCAA Super Regional. Host sites for those rounds have yet to be determined.
