Marshall Softball Earns At Large Bid to 2026 NCAA Softball Tournament

 By Ben Anderson

    The historic season continues for Marshall Softball, as it will be going dancing for just the third time in program history and the first since 2017 by earning an at-large bid to the 2026 NCAA Softball Tournament, playing in the Durham Regional.

    Marshall is paired with another at-large team, the Arizona Wildcats of the Big 12 Conference. Duke, the No. 12 seed from the Atlantic Coastal Conference, and the hosting team of the regional will take on the Howard Bison, who are coming off its second consecutive MEAC Tournament championship.

    This comes off the heels of a long struggle for the Thundering Herd over the last two weeks of the regular season and the Sun Belt Conference Tournament. Marshall dropped two of three games on the road against Louisiana and at home against Duke, before falling in the SBC Tournament quarterfinals 6-0 against No. 10 Coastal Carolina. The Herd’s other two appearances came in 2013 & 2017.

    What helped out the Herd to earn the bid was its RPI ranking, 28, the highest of all SBC teams. Morgan Zerkle, head softball coach said that the RPI rankings play a major factor into how she set the team's schedule.

    “That’s why we play the schedule that we did,” Zerkle said. “To be able to be in that position that, if something happened at the end, which it did, we’d still have a chance.”

    Despite the RPI rankings, the ending of the season brought plenty of optimism that the Herd would have enough of a high-caliber resume to impress the NCAA Tournament committee, which made the waiting game even more worth it.

    “In the morning we had been predicted in the Norman Regional,” Sophomore outfielder and Moundsville W.Va native Ava Blake said. “Then the Norman Regional came, our name wasn’t called. Then the Knoxville Regional came, our name wasn’t called. So you kind of got to the point where like, it’s Durham or nothing. And then it came up and obviously they said Duke and then Howard. And then as soon as our name got called, we all got up screaming and crying.”

    The Thundering Herd are one of three teams from the Sun Belt Conference to qualify for the tournament, joining at-large Texas State, the conference tournament runner-up, and the conference tournament champion South Alabama. 

    “It’s really tough for a mid-major,” Zerkle said. “You have to win your tournament most of the time to ensure you get in. The fact that the Sun Belt’s getting three teams and are able to continue and have an RPI of 28, even through some of our late losses, it’s just really special.”

    For the seniors, the opportunity gives them the opportunity to end their collegiate careers against the highest level of NCAA Division I softball. 

    “I’m stoked,” Infielder Paige Simpson said. “We’re all so excited and I’m just so grateful to be able to put the jersey on another time. I thought my senior year was done. As a senior, I was like wow, this is amazing that I can just go out with these girls and have fun and play free. And we’ll make Marshall proud too.”

    “It’s so unbelievable and I’m so proud of us and the team and the school and our fans,” Catcher Abby Darnley said. “If you’ve been to a game this year, you;ve seen that we;ve had such an amazing fan base and I’ve been here the past four years and I’ve really seen how it’s grown and I’m so proud to be playing for this school and this team and I can’t wait to represent them in North Carolina.”

    A key contributor to the Herd’s success this season was Indiana transfer and Ona, W.Va native Syndi Burko. Burko broke the single-season program home run record with 21. Burko said that leading Marshall to the big dance is a full scale moment for her.

    “Growing up watching Marshall Softball and watching Coach Z (Zerkle) and now being on the other side of the fence and getting to play for her and competing in regional for the third time in school history, it’s a blessing,” Burko said. “It’s bigger than yourself. It’s bigger than softball to be able to make history with this team.”

    

    For Blake, this is an opportunity to not only showcase the talent in the great mountain state but inspire the next generation of local softball players. 

    "A lot of our roster is West Virginia girls," Blake said. "You come from West Virginia, it's a humble place. I know my recruiting process. I didn't go play in the PGF tournaments. I didn't go play in Colorado. I played a lot of local ball with a couple of my friends coached by our dads, and it led me to this point. So, that just makes you really hungry, and it shows that you can do it no matter where you come from."

    "So I think absolutely all these girls, they should be putting in that work because it is very possible for them," Blake said. "They don't have to go and think that they have to be all these big things in order to reach the success at all. You can do it and we're testaments to that and we push each other and you get someone to push you, want it, can happen."

    

    For coach Zerkle, she now has led the team to the tournament as a player in 2017 and as a coach of her alma mater. 

    “This one feels more special to me,” Zerkle said. “As an athlete, you have your own expectations on you, but as a coach, it’s out of your hands a lot and you want to give them (the athletes) the environment and the position to be successful. But a lot of it’s up to them and just really proud of them making it.”

    Action from Durham begins Friday at 2:30 for the Thundering Herd as it aims to take down the Arizona Wildcats and advance to play the winner of the Duke & Howard matchup.

    Stay tuned over the next couple days for my regional breakdown and more as we count the days till the Herd competes for a national championship.