Monica Wright, formerly of Morrison, IL, is University of Northern Iowa Softball Pitching Coach. In May 2021, she won Most Valuable Coach of the Year honors, at Cedar Falls, IA.
On Sunday, May 16, the UNI Softball team earned the program’s first at-large bid into the NCAA Tournament. The Panthers will play in the Columbia Regional, with Missouri (38-14), Iowa State (32-21), and the University of Illinois Chicago (29-21.)
The Panthers open with Iowa State on Friday, May 21, 2021, at 1:00 p.m., in the double elimination Regional. The Panthers and Cyclones played twice in 2021, losing 2-12 in the UNI Dome Classic, on Friday, February 12, and won 10-2 at Robinson Dresser Sports Complex, on Wednesday, April 14.
The Panthers made the program’s 3rd NCAA Regional, making the trip following the 1990 Gateway Conference Championship and the 2013 Missouri Valley Conference Championship. The UNI women lost to eventual National Champion UCLA, 0-2 and 0-4 in 1990, while going 1-2 in 2013, falling to #17 Nebraska 0-4 and #13 Stanford 1-4. They defeated #24 Tulsa 2-1.
The Panthers competed in three consecutive College World Series events–in 1975, 1976, and 1977. They won the 1977 College World Series and finished second in 1975.