Since joining the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference in 1990, the Golden Griffins have won 15 regular season titles to go along with 13 conference tournament championships in 19 championship game appearances, making them the most successful program in MAAC softball history.[3] Under former head coach Mike Rappl, the team won the MAAC tournament championship, the regular season championship, or both in 17 of 18 seasons from 1993 to 2010, making the team one of the most dominant in the history of Western New York college sports.[4][5] The team had only seven losing seasons in 34 years with Rappl as coach.[6] Rappl was named MAAC Coach of the Year seven times, winning the award outright each year from 1993 to 1995, 1998, 2001, and 2008, and sharing the award with Linda Glum of the Iona Gaels in 1992.[7]
Canisius has qualified for the NCAA Division I softball tournament a MAAC record 12 times, doing so each year from 1994 to 1997, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2005, each year from 2007 to 2009, and most recently in 2022.[8] Overall, the program has a record of 5–25 in 30 appearances in the NCAA tournament, the most wins among any MAAC program. The only other program to win a game in the NCAA tournament were the 1998 Niagara Purple Eagles, who won two play-in games.[9]
In the Golden Griffins first appearance in the NCAA tournament in 1994, Canisius faced off against UNC Greensboro in the qualifying round, winning the best-of-three playoff in three games. In doing so, they became the first MAAC team to win a game in the NCAA tournament.[10] After defeating the Spartans, Canisius faced off against eventual NCAA champion Arizona and were defeated 7–0.[11][12] In the losers bracket, they faced Rutgers, who they defeated 4-3 and advanced in the losers bracket.[13] The Golden Griffins were eliminated from the tournament by Texas A&M, losing 9–0.[14] While the program qualified for the play-in round of the tournament in 1995, 1996, and 1997, they failed to win a game and were eliminated, twice by UMass in 1995 and 1997, and Princeton in 1996.[15] After the expansion of the NCAA tournament in 1999,[16] the Golden Griffins automatically qualified for the 2000 as a result of winning the MAAC tournament. The team went on to face UCLA in their first game, losing 8–0 in five innings via mercy rule.[17] In their first game in the losers bracket, Canisius defeated Bethune–Cookman by a score of 3–2 in extra innings.[18] They were eliminated from the tournament after losing to Iowa by a score of 2–1 in a game that went to extra innings.[19] Despite making the NCAA tournament in 2002, 2004, 2005, and 2007, Canisius failed to win a single game over the course of the tournaments and were eliminated.[9] After losing to Arizona in the 2008 NCAA Division I softball tournament, the Golden Griffins snapped their tournament winless streak by defeating LIU Brooklyn by a score of 3–2.[20] However, they were eliminated from the tournament in their next game, losing 5–1 to Hofstra.[21] In the 2009 NCAA Division I softball tournament, the program's final NCAA appearance under Mike Rappl, the team was eliminated after losing games to Ohio State and Kentucky.[22][23]
The Golden Griffins returned to the NCAA tournament for the first time in 13 years in 2022, the program's first appearance under coach Kim Griffin. The team was defeated in their first game against Florida, losing 10–1 in five innings.[24][25] Canisius was eliminated from the tournament after losing 3–0 to Wisconsin.[26]
National champion
Postseason invitational champion
Conference regular season champion
Conference regular season and conference tournament champion
Division regular season champion
Division regular season and conference tournament champion
Conference tournament champion
^Ben Siegel, Aaron Mansfield, Alan Kryszak, Albert Sterbak, Beverly Bishop, BENJAMIN SIEGEL, ANDREW PARKS, ALAN MALLACH, BOB HABES, BARRY BROWN. "TOP-RANKED 'CATS BLANK GOLDEN GRIFFS IN SOFTBALL". Buffalo News.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
