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WALTHAM, Mass. – After a record-breaking regular season, the Bentley University Falcons will be back in action Friday afternoon when they take on either third-seeded Franklin Pierce University or sixth-seeded Assumption University in the Northeast-10 Conference softball semifinals at Adelphi University in Garden City, N.Y.

With a berth in Saturday's championship game on the line, first pitch is scheduled for 2:30 pm start. All games will be streamed on NE10 NOW.

Assumption and Franklin Pierce will square off Thursday afternoon in the second half of a second-round doubleheader for the right to play the second-seeded Falcons.

The other half of the bracket has top-seeded Adelphi facing the winner of Thursday's encounter between Southern New Hampshire and Saint Anselm on Friday. The Thursday game is set for 3:30 pm and Friday's will be at noon.

Bentley, which will be looking for its first-ever conference championship, broke the school record for wins in a season for the second straight year under the leadership of Terry A. McDonough. The Falcons, 20-6-1 since St. Patrick's Day, finished the regular season with records of 28-13-1 overall and 18-5-1 NE10. They remained number three in this week's NCAA Division II East Region rankings, behind Adelphi and Wilmington (Del.).

Against the potential semifinal opponents, Bentley split two games with Franklin Pierce on April 7 and was swept by Assumption on April 19. The Greyhounds were the only NE10 team the Falcons did not pick up a win against this season

The usual lineup for Bentley generally has senior center fielder Sam Petow (Glastonbury, Conn./Glastonbury HS), junior right fielder Kylee Amato (Bergenfield, N.J./Acad. of the Holy Angels) and sophomore left fielder Jordan Krause (San Pedro, Calif./San Pedro HS) at the top of the order. Krause, a first-team All-Conference selection with a slash line of .423/.472/.678, is second in the NE10 in batting average, slugging and on base percentage. Petow, a .317 hitter, earned third-team All-NE10 recognition and was tabbed as the NE10 Defensive Player of the Year. Amato hits .270 and has 21 runs scored.

The middle three usually has graduate catcher Ella Hillier (Tualatin, Ore./Tualatin HS) leading off, sophomore pitcher/designated player Dahlia Fink (Sherman Oaks, Calif./Notre Dame HS) and senior first baseman Kaylee Mankins (North Attleboro/Bishop Feehan HS). Hillier, a .358 hitter who was voted second-team All-Conference, owns numerous Bentley career records, including runs and RBI. Fink, 8-2 with a 2.38 ERA as a pitcher, has a .434 average and 23 RBI in 76 at bats. Mankins (.293) is third in program history in home runs (8) and RBI (73).

Rounding out the lineup are usually junior Sabrina Grizzaffi (Ridgefield, Conn./Ridgefield HS) at short, senior Jess Trahan (Merrimack, N.H./Merrimack HS) and senior Katherine Noftall (Ipswich/Ipswich HS) at second. Grizzaffi, 20 of 43 over the last third of the season, received first-team All-Northeast-10 and NE10 All-Defensive Team honors. Trahan has a .293 average, Noftall has scored 17 runs, and both have been lights out defensively, making big plays in big moments.

The expected starting pitcher is first-team All-Northeast-10 right-hander Payton Doiron (Beacon Falls, Conn./St. Joseph HS). She has a 15-4 record, including 12-2 in conference play, along with a 1.79 ERA and a school-record 164 strikeouts. She'll enter the game with 271 career strikeouts, five away from the Bentley record owned by Tara Fogarty since 2011.

If needed, McDonough can also call upon Fink (4 saves) or sophomore Taylor O'Brien (East Greenbush, N.Y./Columbia HS). O'Brien (4-6, 4.33 ERA) has two saves and recently pitched a one-hitter against Southern Connecticut.

Franklin Pierce features the NE10 Player of the Year, catcher Ashley Cangiano. The .444 hitter is on pace to win the conference's triple crown. Assumption had four All-Conference performers, including  Jordan Dwyer, who has a .344 average and 21 stolen bases.

Adelphi has the conference's Pitcher of the Year, Lindsey Hibbs. She owns a 24-3 record, a 0.56 ERA and a Northeast-10 record 344 strikeouts.