Robert Morris Wins Horizon League Softball Championship, Advances to First NCAA Tournament Since 2005

It’s been quite the year for the Robert Morris athletic department.

At the start of this academic year, the athletic department at Robert Morris showcased many Northeast Conference Championship trophies that spanned many different sports and many different years but there was no sign of a Horizon League trophy anywhere.

Well, that changed in a big way this year as they Colonials won four separate Horizon League titles. The women’s cross country squad kicked off the banner year back in November by winning the university’s first ever Horizon League Championship. The men’s soccer program followed suit weeks later and then the men’s basketball team won the conference tournament in March.

Now, the softball team, after a historic season, won it’s first ever Horizon League Championship after a walk-off win over Purdue Fort Wayne on Saturday afternoon.

WE DID IT‼️ HORIZON LEAGUE CHAMPS🏆 pic.twitter.com/qlgHVqxxdf

— RMU Softball (@RMUSoftball) May 10, 2025

After Robert Morris outlasted Green Bay in extra innings in Thursday’s opening-round game of the Horizon League Softball Championships, the No. 2-seeded Colonials easily handled No. 4-seed Purdue Fort Wayne by the score of 10-2 on Friday to advance to the championship game of the tournament where they met the Mastodons for a rematch.

With the tournament being double-elimination and the Colonials winning each of their first two games, the stage was set for Saturday’s championship round. The Colonials needed to win just one game to be crowned champs while the Mastodons needed to win two.

Well, the Colonials made sure to avoid the dramatics as they wrapped up the title after the first, and only, game of the afternoon.

After the Colonials’ ace pitcher Madison DeVault pitched a shutout inning in the top of the first, the program’s single-season home run leader Courtney Poulich smashed another one, her 15th of the season and third of the tournament, to put the Colonials up 1-0 after the first inning.

Poulich’s home run also gave her the program’s single-season RBI record as she totaled her 52nd RBI of the season.

The scoring stayed stagnant for most of the game following Poulich’s homer as the scored remained 1-0 as the game entered the seventh inning. Purdue Fort Wayne jumped ahead after Grace Hollopeter hit a two-run homer over the wall in right center field.

The Colonials then came to bat in the bottom half of the seventh inning and needed a run to extend the game into extra innings. They did just that as Sequoia Dunlap hit a clutch solo home run which tied the game at two.

After DeVault managed to shut down any scoring chances in the top half of the eighth inning, the Horizon League Co-Freshman of the Year Mary Brant crushed a game-winning two-run home run which clinched the Colonials a spot in the upcoming Women’s NCAA Tournament as the conference’s automatic qualifier.

The win over Purdue Fort Wayne gave the Robert Morris softball program its seventh-ever conference title and clinched them a spot in the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2005. Additionally, it notched win No. 30 on the season which is the second time that the Colonials have reached that plateau under head coach Jexx Varner.