Thomas College’s Joy Ireland may be just a freshman, but the former Lawrence of Fairfield standout has already become a valuable member of the Thomas College softball team.

Ireland will lead the top-seeded Terriers as they open play in the Sunrise Conference tournament this weekend.

Thomas (16-17 overall, 15-3 in conference) will take on No. 4 Lyndon State (8-9, 10-13) Saturday at 9:30 a.m. to open the Sunrise Conference playoffs. Thomas, which is located in Waterville, is hosting the double-elimination tourney.

No. 2 University of Maine-Farmington (15-10, 14-3) will face No. 3 UMaine-Presque Isle (6-12, 6-6) Saturday at noon in the second game.

The loser of the first game will play the loser of the second game at 2:30 p.m. The winners of the first two games play at 5:30 p.m.

The Game 3 winner will face the Game 4 loser Sunday at 10 a.m. The winner of Game 4 will meet the winner of Game 5 at 12:30 p.m. for the championship (the if-necessary game will be played at 3 p.m.)

The playoffs were originally set for Friday and Saturday but moved to the weekend because of rain forecast for Friday.

The tournament winner moves on to the NAIA tournament.

The Terriers went 0-10 on their spring trip to Florida but have turned things around in their conference. Thomas has a 1.87 ERA, went 11-4 overall and struck out 90.

“She had a nice freshman year,” Thomas coach Paul Rodgrigue said. “She’s been a big key for us.”

Junior shortstop-pitcher Courtney Corbitt (2.95 ERA, 5-3) gets the start against Lyndon State. Corbitt also leads the Terriers in several offensive catagories, including batting average (.486), hits (35), and RBIs (25). Jasmine Carey (.392, 29 hits, 11 RBIs) leads Thomas with 22 stolen bases. Brandi Riley is batting .361 while Dee Kelly, Thomas’ only senior, is batting at a .309 clip.

“We’re playing our best ball right now,” Rodrigue said. “We’re hitting, we’re playing good defense, and the pitching’s been solid all year.”

UMF features a strong mix of offense and pitching, with strong players in each category. Liz Seubert’s .363 batting average is second in the Sunrise Conference. Dorice Reitchel and Richelle Dube have 26 and 23 hits apiece, respectively.

Cindy Ravinski leads the Beavers with 21 RBIs, while Reitchel follows with 18.

The Beavers have two strong pitchers in Lauren Stacey (2.18 earned-run average) and Jessica Wenckus (3.43 ERA).

Pitcher Danielle Lee has led UMPI this year. Not only does she have 70 strikeouts, but she has a .340 batting average. Tiffany Miller follows at .333.

The Owls and the Beavers split a pair of regular season games last week, which should make their first round matchup interesting.

Lyndon State of Lyndonville, Vt., has two of the top offensive players in the conference in Jennifer Kirchoff and Christine Riendeau. Kirchoff leads the Hornets with a .517 average, 31 hits, 27 RBIs, nine doubles and three triples. Riendeau has batted .355 and has 10 stolen bases. Maggie Scott of Athens has 14 RBIs.

The Hornets were the fifth-ranked team in the conference but made the tournament when No. 4 Husson was ruled to have used an ineligible player during the season and had to forfeit all seven of its conference wins.