‘They’re used to this’: Rowan gearing up for NCAA Super Regional round in softball

Kim Wilson has seen a lot over her 28 years coaching Rowan’s softball team. But a 20-inning game was a first.

Rowan opened its 2024 postseason in the New Jersey Athletic Conference tournament against the College of New Jersey on May 6, and found itself deadlocked at 0-0 with the Lions through seven innings. Seven became eight, then nine, and so on.

Some spectators left for work and came back to find the game still going, almost five hours later.

“You go seven innings, and then you’re a little nervous in the eighth and ninth,” Wilson said. “You really don’t want to lose the game at this point. By the 13th and 14th, you’re just going, ‘All right, let’s go out for another one.’”

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In the bottom of the 20th, the Profs finally strung together a pair of walks and a line single from junior Liz McCaffery for a 1-0 walk-off win. But it was sophomore pitcher Emily McCutcheon who held off TCNJ long enough for McCaffery to even get to the plate.

McCutcheon pitched all 20 innings — a Division III record. The game was one inning shy of the longest in D-III history.

“We were up the whole time, from the first to the 20th inning,” McCutcheon said. “If you walked up to the game, you would never know, because we were screaming in the dugout obnoxiously.”

Adrenaline kept McCutcheon going through all 230 pitches. And now, Rowan has built on that opening victory to blow through the NJAC tournament and the first round of NCAAs.

The Profs (37-7) earned hosting rights for the best-of-three Super Regionals, starting Thursday against Christopher Newport (2 p.m., YouTube). Rowan is seeking its second consecutive trip to the Division III College Softball World Series. Christopher Newport is 33-5.

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McCutcheon and Rowan’s other starting pitcher, junior Rylee Lutz, have been two keys to the team’s continued success. The staff’s 1.19 ERA ranks third in Division III.

“We’ve been playing together since we were 12 and 14 years old. So we are really close,” McCutcheon said. “Throwing bullpens with her, we’re able to pick up on things with our pitches, help each other change things, and we have a really good relationship.”

The two starters’ styles are completely different: While McCutcheon typically pitches to contact, Lutz is a strikeout pitcher, meaning opposing offenses can have trouble getting into a rhythm against Rowan. And their standout performances, like McCutcheon’s against TNCJ, are contagious to the rest of the team.

“I have full trust in my pitchers,” senior infielder Payton MacNair said. “I have full trust that they’re going to do what they need to do, which helps me have full confidence in myself and my defense behind them.”

MacNair, who is batting .401 this season, was named most valuable player in the Ashland (Va.) Super Regional last year. The stage this Thursday and Friday is nothing new for her team, which returned all but two starters from last year’s squad.

In addition to the returners, Rowan boasts an infusion of new talent — including MacNair’s younger sister, Zara, who is the starting right fielder as a freshman. The sisters from Cinnaminson played together on their club team growing up, but the age difference meant they typically weren’t on the field at the same time.

The season they would have shared on their high school team was canceled because of COVID-19. So this experience of sharing the field in college is one they’ve been waiting for a long time.

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“If I see something maybe off on her swing, or she needs a pep talk, I’m always there, and she’s the same way,” Payton MacNair said. “We both are very receptive to feedback from each other, which I think has definitely made us both better players this season.”

Rowan spent last year’s NCAA Tournament entirely on the road. So the Profs are glad for one last series at home in Glassboro, where they are unbeaten this year. Even if one of those wins took 20 innings to accomplish.

“They’re used to this,” Wilson said. “We want to go out and play good softball, but getting another week to be together is fantastic.”