Just one year removed from patrolling the fields of Westhampton, Maggie Rubeck is College World Series-bound.
The Easthampton resident and former Hampshire Regional standout will open play in the NCAA Division 3 Softball World Series on Thursday with Eastern Connecticut State University. The Warriors, seeded third in the eight-team CWS field, will open the double-elimination bracket with a first-round game against No. 6 Trine University (Ind.) at 6:30 p.m. at the Moyer Complex in Salem, Va.
“It’s crazy because all year we talked about making it to the national championship and winning a national championship, and now we’re here with a chance to do it,” said Rubeck, who arrived with her team in Virginia on Tuesday. “A big reason I chose to go to this school was I wanted to win a championship, and we’re in a position now where we can do just that.”
Rubeck is the starting shortstop for the Warriors. She’s started 45 of the team’s 48 games, sporting a sterling .983 fielding percentage in the process to go with three RBIs at the plate. Eastern Connecticut State enters with a 43-5 record, and the club is fresh off sweeping a best-of-three Super Regional series with Randolph-Macon College to punch its World Series ticket.
“I knew coming in that it would be difficult to get in the lineup right away because playing shortstop is not the easiest position,” she said. “I really worked hard this year so I knew I had a chance. I tried my hardest and it’s been a great season.”
Rubeck helped lead Hampshire Regional to the 2021 Western Mass. Division 2 title in her senior season. She amassed over 100 hits during her tenure as a Raider, and while she hoped to make an immediate impact at ECSU, there were some changes from the high school to college game.
“For me, the speed of the game has been the biggest adjustment,” she admitted. “In high school, you can get away with some things timing-wise. But here, you have to run through everything. Everything moves ten times faster.”
ECSU is in a four-team bracket with Trine, No. 2 Salisbury University (Md.) and No. 7 Milikin University (Ill.) The four teams will play out a double-elimination event through Sunday, and the last team standing will earn a spot in the best-of-three championship series with the winner of the other four-team bracket (No. 1 Christopher Newport, No. 4 Texas Lutheran, No. 5 Berry, No. 8 WPI). The championship series is set for Monday and Tuesday.
The Warriors have lost just once since April 2, falling to Kean University in the NCAA Regional before rebounding and winning twice against the Cougars to earn a spot in the Super Regional.
“I think our loss against Kean was the biggest thing that helped our team get to this point,” she recalled. “We had a moment where we just clicked. Losing wasn’t bad for us because we learned we could overcome that. It’s good to know that we’ve come back from being in a loser’s bracket spot before.”
ECSU has already seen Trine this season, as the Warriors notched a 6-3 victory when the teams met in an early-season tournament in Georgia back in March. They also played Salisbury in that tournament, dropping a 7-4 decision to open the 2022 campaign.
“Everyone in this tournament is going to be good and we have to play the way we’re capable of playing in order to have a shot,” she said.