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Kat Stackrow

PREVIEW: NCAA East Region Championship – No. 22 Georgian Court at No. 18 Saint Anselm

5/21/2021 11:00:00 PM

MANCHESTER, N.H. – The nationally-ranked Saint Anselm College softball team will have a chance on Saturday to punch its ticket to the NCAA Division II National Championship in Denver, Colo. with a win over Georgian Court University at high noon.
 
The Hawks are heading into the regional finals contest with a 15-game winning streak that dates back to Apr. 20 when Saint Anselm fell to Franklin Pierce, 2-1. With two NCAA wins to date, the Hawks now own a 31-4 overall record and are joined by another nationally-ranked program in the field, Georgian Court. The Lions are ranked 22nd in the National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) Division II Poll while the Hawks sit above the Lions as the No. 18 program in the country.
 
In the NCAA Division II East Region tournament, Saint Anselm has taken care of business, downing Adelphi by a convincing 11-1 margin in just five innings on Thursday. The next day, the Hawks kept up their winning ways by earning a narrow 2-1 victory over Georgian Court.

Georgian Court heads into the contest with a 36-5 overall record that includes a 25-1 regular-season conference record, which is the best in program history. The team also won the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference (CACC) postseason title, earning their first championship since 2009. The Lions defeated the University of New Haven, 7-5, in the first game of Thursday's action at the NCAA East Regional.
 
The rematch is set as No. 22 Georgian Court will have the opportunity to play Saint Anselm once again, this time in the regional final. One Hawks victory on Saturday clinches the program's second NCAA Division II East Region Championship while Georgian Court, having lost Friday's showdown, will need two victories on Saturday to earn the title. 

Check out the tournament central page for more information about the spectator policy, ticketing information, and much more.

Live Statistics and Live Video will be available via the NE10 Now Network.

SCOUTING SAINT ANSELM
  • Saint Anselm claimed both the NE10 Regular Season and Tournament championships as the team has won 30-plus games for the fifth time in program history.
  • Junior Bre Klaiber (Ironton, Ohio) has powered the Hawks bats recently, hitting home runs in each of the last two games in the NCAA Division II East Region tournament. Klaiber leads the Hawks and the conference with a .442 batting average and a .539 on-base percentage while ranking fifth in the league with a .737 slugging percentage.
  • Klaiber has recorded one home run in each of the past four contests - she is the first to accomplish this feat since Megan Murrell '18 in the 2018 season. On Friday, she opened the contest against Georgian Court with a solo home run to left center field. The NE10 Northeast Division Player of the Year has recorded 42 hits, the thiird most in the NE10, and ranks fifth in the NE10 with 27 runs batted in. She played a key role in the Hawks NE10 postseason title run as she was named to the NE10 All-Tournament Team.
  • Klaiber has scored one or more runs in the past 13 of 15 contests and posted a four-hit performance with two runs scored against Southern New Hampshire in the NE10 postseason.
  • She belted a three-run home run in Thursday's victory over Adelphi, helping her achieve a 20-game reached base streak. She also recorded home runs in each of the final rounds of the NE10 Championship. Klaiber looks to extend her current streak of reaching base to 21 straight games on Saturday. Since 2011, Nicole Boucher '14 owns the longest such streak with 25, logging 15 multi-hit games and seven games with multiple runs batted in.
  • The 11 runs on Thursday for Saint Anselm marked the most in a single NCAA Tournament game in program history. The highest total came in 2019 in the NCAA Division II Super Regional, scoring nine runs against LIU Post.
  • A two-time D2CCA East Region Pitcher of the Year, senior Morgan Perry (Bethany, Conn.) keeps showing her dominance in the circle throughout this tournament, helping Saint Anselm boast a stingy 0.72 team earned-run average into the regional final. She leads the NE10 with a 0.48 earned run average, recording a perfect 19-0 record in the circle with 17 complete games, 12 shutouts, two no-hitters, and one perfect game. She leads all NCAA Division II pitchers with 13.2 strikeouts per seven innings, fanning 209 batters on the year. Perry struck out 13 batters against Georgian Court on Friday, her highest single-game strikeout mark since Apr. 23 against Saint Michael's with 18.
  • With the complete game against the Lions on Friday, Perry broke the program's all-time record with 77, surpassing Lori Cillo '94. Perry also earned her 19th win of the season and the 86th of her career. Friday's shutout marked the 18th that the Hawks have earned in 2021, with 13 of those being credited to Perry.
  • In 11 of her last 12 games pitched, she has surrendered four or less hits to her opponents while only allowing four total runs in that span.
  • Perry is now ranked fourth on the career strikeouts list in the NE10 with 763, recently surpassing Marnie Sundberg of Le Moyne. She was named the NE10 Northeast Division Pitcher of the Year and was a member of the NE10 All-Tournament Team as well.
  • Sophomore Kylie Fitzpatrick (Danville, N.H.) received a spot on the All-East Second Team by the D2CCA after logging a perfect 1.000 fielding percentage over 34 games, recording 44 putouts and 43 assists without an error. On Friday, she recorded just the first error of her career in the win over Georgian Court on May 21.
  • Fitzpatrick has also contributed to the Hawks offense in many ways throughout the 2021 season, posting one or more hits in 18 of her last 21 games, including a three-hit performance against Franklin Pierce on Apr. 18. After earning the NE10 Northeast Defensive Player of the Year award, she also claimed her first-ever NFCA All-East First Team honor.
  • Sophomore McKenna Smith (Old Town, Maine), one of the unsung heroes of the Hawks roster, was named the Most Valuable Player in the NE10 Tournament. She threw a complete game in the second game against Adelphi, striking out four batters and allowed three hits and one run in the process.
  • Smith heads into the regional with the fifth-best earned run average in the nation (0.73). She has started in nine of her 13 appearance in 2021, allowing just nine runs and 42 hits. She enters the NCAA regional with a 7-2 record and 77 strikeouts on the season, posting a career-high 14 strikeouts in the victory over Saint Michael's on Apr. 24. Smith also earned All-NE10 accolades this season, grabbing a spot on the All-Conference Third Team, while also being named to the NFCA All-East Second Team.
  • Against Adelphi on Thursday, senior Erin Thompson (Newton, N.H.) belted her first home run of the season and the fifth of her career to take a 7-1 lead. Out of the six home runs Thompson has hit in her Hawks career, three of them have come in postseason play and Thursday's bomb was the second to occur in the NCAA tournament.
  • Senior Erin Thompson (Newton, N.H.) holds the longest active hitting streak on the team, hitting in five consecutive games.
  • Senior Shannon Colson (Rochester, N.H.) is known for her speed on the base paths, recording seven stolen bases so far this season. After recording her 200th career hit in the NE10 Championship, Colson ranks second all-time in team history, trailing only current assistant coach Amanda Bickford '18 who holds the program record with 237. Colson broke the all-time at-bats record on Thursday (610) against Adelphi.
  • Colson also needs one more walk in her career to break the all-time team record with 62.
  • Heading into the regional, the Hawks have totaled 58 multi-hit games with 13 having student-athletes post three or more hits in a single game. Fitzpatrick and Klaiber lead the team with nine multi-hit games. Saint Anselm has recorded 42 individual games with multiple runs batted in as Washburn leads the squad with 10.
  • The Hawks defense has kept all opponents to two or less runs throughout the season, except cross-town rival Southern New Hampshire who scored three runs. Saint Anselm has recorded 18 shutouts, ranking fourth in the nation.
  • The team's pitching staff has combined for the best earned run average in all of Division II, recording a 0.72 mark with Perry and Smith logging earned run averages of under 1.00.
SCOUTING GEORGIAN COURT
  • Georgian Court came into the regional as the top seed in the CACC Tournament, defeating Bloomfield College, 4-0 in the title game. In that tournament, they permitted no runs, allowing only five hits.
  • Alyssa Herrera, a two-time All-Region selection, leads the Lions with a .467 batting average, 46 runs, 56 hits, 17 doubles, 88 total bases, 17 walks, and a .521 on-base percentage. She has a hit in all but seven of her 39 contests, including 17 outings with two more knocks.
  • Samantha Fohrman is the Lions ace - she was named CACC Pitcher of the Year after a season that included 11 complete games and four shutouts, compiling 103.2 innings of work. She has recorded a 14-1 record and a 1.49 earned run average over 26 appearances. She ranks second in the CACC with 142 strikeouts.
  • Caitlin Hughes was named to the D2CCA All-Region squad after recording a conference-best 137at-bats and six triples.
  • Adriana Mungo has recorded 19 multi-hit outings and authored a team-best 15-game hitting streak and a 23-game on-base streak during the regular season. She has ripped 47 hits, including three walk-off knocks, totaling a .448 batting average. She was also selected to the NFCA and D2CCA All-East Region First Teams.
  • Head Coach Nicole Degenhardt, in her sixth year, was named CACC Coach of the Year for the third straight season, securing a regional berth the past two years.
  • Mikayla Gilgert, the CACC Championship Tournament MVP, is also one of the pitching aces for the Lions, pacing the conference with 20 victories along with sporting a 1.47 earned run average. She owns the best strikeout mark in the CACC with 149.
ALL-TIME vs. GEORGIAN COURT
  • These two programs have yet to see each other on their home fields as all of their previous matchups have been on neutral sites. The Hawks actually lead the all-time series with a 7-1 record, despite falling in their most recent contest in 2020 when Georgian Court won 3-2.
  • Against the Lions, the Hawks are averaging 6.71 in the past seven games. The Hawks largest margin of victory against the Lions came in 2016 when Saint Anselm took down Georgian Court, 10-4.
  • Saint Anselm defeated the Lions in the seventh game of the 2021 regional by a slim 2-0 margin, helping the Hawks advance to a regional final appearance.
ALL-TIME, NCAA POSTSEASON
  • The Hawks are making their third consecutive (and fifth-ever) NCAA tournament appearance (2002, 2015, 2018, 2019, 2021). Across the past three seasons, the Hawks are 7-0 in regional play and most recently won the East Region title in 2018, making it all the way to the NCAA Division II National Championship series.
  • In the NCAA Tournament, the Hawks have totaled a record of 16-9, including seven straight wins in the 2018 NCAA run. Saint Anselm has hosted the past three straight regionals along with the two super regionals from 2018 and 2019. In that span, the Hawks are 11-2 when owning the home field advantage in the NCAA Tournament.
  • In the Hawks first ever appearance in the NCAA Tournament, the Hawks defeated C.W. Post, 7-1, in 2002.
  • Georgian Court has made the regionals seven times in their program history, with a historical run in 2009 when they advanced to the Super Regional.
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