MANCHESTER, N.H. – The nationally-ranked Saint Anselm College softball team will travel on Wednesday, Mar. 24 for the 3 p.m. first pitch of a doubleheader against the host Yellow Jackets from American International College.

NO. 17 SAINT ANSELM COLLEGE HAWKS
Roster | Schedule & Results | 2021 Statistics | News

AMERICAN INTERNATIONAL COLLEGE YELLOW JACKETS
Roster | Schedule & Results | 2021 Statistics | News

The Hawks opened their season on Sunday, Mar. 21, splitting a doubleheader with New Haven which featured senior pitcher Morgan Perry (Bethany, Conn.), who threw a no-hitter in game one. The Chargers defeated the Hawks, 3-0, in the second game of the doubleheader with all of their runs coming in the first two innings.

The Yellow Jackets are returning to action after splitting a doubleheader against Saint Rose on Sunday, falling in game one, 2-1, before claiming a 1-0 victory in game two.

LIVE VIDEO will be provided via the NE10 Now Network along with LIVE STATS.

HAWKS NOTES

• The Hawks return to action after splitting a doubleheader with New Haven last weekend in the season opener for Saint Anselm.
• Senior captains Shannon Colson (Rochester, N.H.) and Erin Thompson (Newton, N.H.) lead the Hawks offense by batting at least .428 after the first weekend. Colson looks to extend her hitting streak on Wednesday as she has recorded hits in the past four games. Colson went 3-for-6 with a double and a stolen base against the Chargers while Thompson finished the doubleheader with three hits and one run batted in.
• Behind the two seniors with the third-best batting average on the team is junior Bailey Cain (Wellington, Fla.), who has a .333 average along with one hit.
• Returning one of the top pitching staffs of the nation in 2021, Perry shined in her season opener, leading the squad with the ninth-best earned run average in the country (1.08) after Sunday's contest. Perry's 16 strikeouts on Sunday place her first in the country in strikeouts per seven innings.
• So far in Perry's illustrious career, she has fanned a total of 570 batters, holding down the third spot in the all-time list. With the complete-game shutout win, Perry has now broken the career shutout record by a lone Hawks pitcher with 26. Simultaneously, she moves up the all-time innings pitched rankings to second with 573, passing Lori Cillo '94 with 571.
• Sophomore McKenna Smith (Old Town, Maine) struck out nine batters in game two, yielding just one hit in relief. Smith finished 2020 as the national leader in strikeouts per seven innings with 13.2.

REVIEWING THE YELLOW JACKETS

• American International sports a 3-3 record so far in the 2021 season. The Yellow Jackets opened the campaign with a doubleheader split against Stonehill College on Sunday, Mar. 14, earning a 7-6 victory in game one, then falling 4-3 in eight innings in game two.
• The Yellow Jackets finished last week 2-2, splitting both doubleheaders against divisional foe Saint Rose. American International won the series opener, 3-2, but followed with a 5-1 loss in extra innings on Saturday, Mar. 20. The following day, Saint Rose claimed a 2-1 triumph before the Yellow Jackets squeezed out a 1-0 win.
• Alexis Jimenez is leading the Yellow Jackets offense with a .421 batting average, recording eight hits and four runs batted in. Kacie Allison will be another threat for the Hawks to manage as she holds a .389 batting average, posting seven hits, a double, one home run, and seven runs batted in. Bonnie Kennedy has started four games in 2021, posting a .462 batting average over 13 at-bats with six hits.
• With five pitchers on the roster and each having appeared in one game, the Yellow Jackets, as a team, have recorded a 0.95 earned-run average along with allowing 19 runs and fanning 19 batters in six games. Isabella Erti leads the team with a 0.47 ERA, striking out a team-high 10 batters over 15 innings pitched. Not just a threat at the plate but also in the circle, Jimenez has earned two starts, including a complete game performance, totaling a 2.33 ERA with a 2-0 record.

ALL-TIME vs. AMERICAN INT'L

• Saint Anselm and American International have played 72 contests in the all-time series with the Yellow Jackets leading, 49-23, dating back to the very first game played in 1983.
• The Hawks captured their first win over the Yellow Jackets when they earned a 4-2 victory on Apr. 25, 1993.
• In the last 10 matchups, the Yellow Jackets are 6-4 against the Hawks with the last two going to Saint Anselm. Their last matchup between the two was back in 2018 when Megan Murrell '18 homered in both games of the doubleheader, while Perry threw a one-hitter in game one as the softball squad swept American International with 3-0 and 7-5 victories.

WHAT'S NEXT?

• The Hawks will battle the Greyhounds from Assumption University on Saturday, Mar. 27 for the Hawks home opener at the South Athletic Fields. Saint Anselm and Assumption will play again on Sunday, Mar. 27 to finish the four-game weekend series.