The 2021 James Madison softball team has made history with its first-ever trip to the NCAA Women’s College World Series, and two South Fayette graduates, Sara Jubas and Lauren Bernett, have helped the Dukes in their journey to Oklahoma City.
JMU took two of three games in a best-of-three Columbia Super Regional series against SEC power Missouri (42-17) last Friday through Sunday and improved to 39-2 overall.
The Dukes will take on Oklahoma (50-2) in the first round at noon Thursday. The game will be televised on ESPN.
The Big 12 champion Sooners will play in their fifth straight College World Series and are gunning for their fifth national title since 2013.
Oklahoma also won it all in 2000.
JMU is the first non-Power 5 Conference school to reach the Women’s College World Series since Louisiana in 2014. It also joins Georgia as the first two non-seeded teams to reach the tournament since 2012.
The underdog Dukes won the first game against Missouri, 2-1, before the Tigers bounced back, 7-1 to even the series.
But JMU was not to be denied as they stunned Missouri, 7-2, in Game 3 to clinch the spot in the World Series field of eight.
Jubas, the team’s leading hitter among the regular starting players at .409 (54 of 132), has started all 41 games. The redshirt junior shortstop went 2 for 4 against Missouri in Game 3 with an RBI and two runs scored.
A starter since her freshman year, Jubas this season owns 12 doubles, two triples, 10 home runs, 34 RBIs and a team-leading 44 runs scored.
Bernett, a freshman catcher, started Game 3 and also was 2 for 4 with an RBI. She owns 39 starts in 40 games played this year and is batting .243 (17 for 70) with four doubles, three home runs and 10 RBIs.
JMU’s postseason run began in the Colonial Athletic Association Tournament where it rolled through three games, outscoring its opponents by a combined 32-0.
JMU then swept the Knoxville Regional with a signature victory coming against the host Tennessee Volunteers, 3-1. The regional triumph propelled the team to the super regional against Missouri.
