The No. 9-ranked Emory softball team will return home this weekend to host Benedictine University the NCAA Division III Atlanta, Georgia Super Regional.  Action in the best-of-three series begins on Friday (May 20) with a 1:00 pm game.  On Saturday, the second contest is slated for a 1:00 pm first pitch with a third game, if necessary, slated to begin at 3:30 pm.  Atlanta is one of eight sites hosting Super Regionals with each winner moving on to Salem, Virginia, to compete in the NCAA Championships (May 26-31).

The Eagles of head coach Penny Siqueiros, 43-5 on the year, are making their third straight trip to the Super Regional Round since it was incorporated into the D-III format in 2014.  Emory earned the right to play this weekend after capturing the Mount Berry Regional, winning three of four contests.  The Eagles opened with a 3-1 victory over Birmingham last Friday before topping host and No. 4-ranked Berry, 5-2, on Saturday.  On Sunday, Emory dropped a 5-1 outcome to Berry that kept the Vikings alive in the double-elimination event.  In the deciding contest, Emory bolted out to a 4-0 lead before seeing Berry eventually tie the game in the bottom of the seventh.  However, Emory regrouped and came away with an eight-inning, 5-4 triumph.

Benedictine is led by head coach Kate Heidkamp (Benedictine, '96), who in 18 years at the helm of the Eagles' program has compiled a school and career ledger of 503-264.  This year, Heidkamp has directed BU to an overall record of 37-15, with the victory total one shy of tying the program record for most wins in a season.  Benedictine is a member of the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference, and has earned that league's automatic bid to the postseason for six straight seasons (Benedictine has made a total of 13 NCAA Tournament appearances).  Benedictine landed four players on the All-Great Lakes Region Team, headed up senior Melsissa Stoch's (.373, 63 hits, 7 HRs, 38 RBIs) first-team berth. Sophomore Courtney Graz (.395, 66 hits, 11 2B, 41 RBIs) and junior Holly Haberkorn (22-7, 1.48 ERA, 179 IP, 91Ks) were second-team honorees while senior Kailee Cable (.358, 57 hits, 12 @B, 43 RBIs) was a third-team selection.  As a team, Benedictine is hitting .329 while its opponents check in with a mark of .242.

NOTES:  This weekend's meeting between Emory and Benedictine will represent the first-ever meetings in softball between the two schools … Emory's 43 wins ties the 2002 team for the program record for most wins in a season, and is the fourth time in the 18-year history of the program that it has reached the 40-win plateau … Emory has recorded 30 or more wins on 15 occasions in its history … The Eagles have launched a total of 47 home runs this year, tying it with the 2014 squad for first place on the Eagles' seasonal chart …  Through May 15, Emory ranked 6^th in D-III with an average of 0.98 home runs per game … Emory has 85 doubles this year, tying for the fourth-highest seasonal standard in school annals … Emory has collected 10 or more hits on 22 occasions this year … Emory is No. 1 in the University Athletic Association and 9^th  on the national scene in slugging percentage (.531) … Emory has an all-time record of 40-28 in NCAA Tournament play … Emory played a total of 13 games against eight teams that made this year's NCAA Tournament  field – Agnes Scott  (2-0),  Birmingham Southern (0-2),  DePauw (1-0), Lake Forest (2-0), DePauw (1-0), Rochester (2-0),  Rowan (1-0), Salisbury (0-1) and Washington University (2-0) fashioning a 10-3 won-lost ledger in those contests … Penny Siqueiros is in her 18^th year as the head coach at Emory and owns a school and career record of 603-170-1 … Brittany File (Carmel, CA) was named the Most Outstanding Player of the Mount Berry Regional last weekend after tossing 27 of a possible 29 innings and posting an ERA of 1.56 to go along with 34 strikeouts … File, who garnered both First Team All-UAA and All-Atlantic Region acclaim, was named the UAA's Player of the Year and enters the NCAA Super Regional with a 33-3 record, with her victory total leading all D-III players and establishing a school record ... File has struck out a school-record 307 batters, tops in the UAA and second in D-III ... File's average of 10.6 strikeouts per seven innings leads the league and is 3rd nationally, and her ERA of 1.28 over 202 1/3 innings (school seasonal record) stands 19th among all D-III hurlers …Other Emory representatives on the Mount Berry All-Regional Team included sophomore Janelle Turnquest (Austin, TX), junior Amy Wray (Austin, TX) and senior Melody Carter (Slidell, LA) … Turnquest, a First-Team All-UAA and Second Team All-Atlantic Region honoree, paces the team with 11 home runs, tying the fifth-highest season total in school history … Turnquest also tops the team with 18 games of two or more RBIs, and her 61 ribbies on the year leads the UAA, stands third nationally and is the second-highest seasonal mark in school history … Senior Alyssa Pollard (Knoxville, TN), and Melody Carter share the team lead with 16 mulit-hit games …  Pollard will enter the NCAA Super Regional tied for the No. 14 spot on the school's all-time list in hitting (.38, 181-491) … Melody Carter is No. 2 in the conference and seventh nationally with 57 RBIs, fifth best on the Emory seasonal chart … Emory leads the UAA in hitting with a .3347 mark, good for 24th nationally.