Stonehill College is realigning to Division 1 and will join the Northeast Conference, the school and league jointly announced on Tuesday.
Currently competing as a Division II program, Stonehill will officially join the NEC on July 1st and will begin the required four-year reclassification process at that time. The Skyhawks will become a full-fledged member of the conference with the 2026-27 academic year.
The addition of Stonehill will keep the Northeast Conference at nine softball-playing members; Stonehill will, practically speaking, take the place of Bryant University, which announced last week that it is departing to join the America East Conference this summer.
This is the first NEC expansion since 2018, and only the third time the league has added a new member this century. Most recently, the conference added Merrimack College in 2018.
During the 2022 softball season, the Skyhawks are 6-14 overall with a 2-6 record in NE-10 conference play. Head coach Ali Maloof is in her first season as the program’s head coach after being hired last September.
Under previous head coach Ken LeGrice, who led the Skyhawks as head coach for twelve years and passed away in May 2021 from cancer, the program recorded nearly 200 wins and reached the NE-10 conference tournament six times. The Skyhawks crossed the 20-win plateau in six separate seasons.
