UPDATE (11 p.m., 05/22/21) – The Hawks will take on West Chester, the winners of the NCAA Division II Atlantic Regional, on Thursday, May 27 at 4 p.m. Mountain Daylight Time/6 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time in Denver, Colo. More information about the matchup will be posted in the days leading up to the game.
MANCHESTER, N.H. – For the second time in program history, the nationally-ranked Saint Anselm College softball program has won the NCAA Division II East Region Championship.
With Saturday's 4-0 victory over Georgian Court in the "if-necessary" game, Saint Anselm has punched its ticket to the eight-team 2021 NCAA Division II National Championship to be held in Denver, Colo. starting Thursday, May 27. The Hawks return to the national stage just three years after the program's historic run to the national championship series in 2018.
Entering the day needing just one victory over Georgian Court, the Lions were able to sneak past the Hawks by a 3-1 margin in the opener. However, the Hawks turned the tables in the day's second game, claiming a four-run shutout victory with the help of a five-hitter pitched by sophomore
McKenna Smith (Old Town, Maine).
Saint Anselm saw its season-long winning streak of 15 games snapped with the two-run loss in the opener to Georgian Court, but the Hawks responded well to blank the Lions in game two and rack up the team's 32nd victory of the 2021 campaign. The Hawks enter the National Championship with a 32-5 overall record while the Lions' historic season comes to a close with a 38-6 overall record.
The National Championship will be condcuted at the Assembly Athletic Complex at MSU Denver from Thursday, May 27 through Monday, May 31. West Chester (34-14), Augustana (S.D.) (47-6), Grand Valley State (44-8), Valdosta State (38-9), North Georgia (41-6), and West Texas A&M (38-11) have locked down a spot in Denver alongside Saint Anselm.
The final spot will be decided later this evening as Biola and Concordia (Calif.) will battle in the West Region finale before the eight teams are re-seeded. More information on Saint Anselm's opponent and schedule will be released as additional information becomes available.
As an institution since the 2016-17 academic year, Saint Anselm has won regional championships in men's basketball (2019), women's basketball (2019) and softball (2018, 2021). In that timeframe, the College's men's basketball (2019) and field hockey (2016, 2019) teams have also made it to the NCAA Division II Final Fours in their respective sports. Like softball in 2018, the Saint Anselm field hockey team has also finished a campaign as the national runner-up (2019).
GAME 10: No. 22 Georgian Court 3, No. 18 Saint Anselm 1 (Box Score)
Despite the narrow loss in game one, Saint Anselm scored first as senior
Kat Stackrow (Wynantskill, N.Y.) was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded, allowing classmate
Shannon Colson (Rochester, N.H.) to cross the plate.
Senior
Morgan Perry (Bethany, Conn.) posted four strikeouts in the first three innings, keeping the Lions scoreless and hitless until the top of the fourth inning. Despite surrendering two hits in the frame, Perry and the Hawks defense kept the Lions off the board by inducing a ground ball out to freshman
Gracie O'Hara (Shrewsbury, Mass.) at third.
Down by a run, Georgian Court led off the top of the fifth inning with a
Paige Eckert single. Advancing to second on a grounder to the pitcher, the Lions later placed runners on the corners following a bunt single by
Caitlin Hughes. With two outs and staring at a 1-2 count,
Adriana Mungo punched an opposite-field line drive to left-center, scoring two runs on a double.
The Hawks were unable to convert on any further scoring opportunities. Georgian Court tacked on an insurance run in the top of the seventh inning, despite several quality defensive plays by Saint Anselm. Senior
Bre Klaiber (Ironton, Ohio) fielded a grounder and threw home with nobody out, cutting down a base runner and later kept Georgian Court to an infield RBI single, diving to keep the ball in the infield and prevent a fourth Lions run from scoring.
The Hawks went down one-two-three in the bottom of the seventh inning, allowing Georgian Court to play in the regional championship's 11th and final game.
Perry finished the contest with six strikeouts, allowing three runs and 10 hits while recording her first loss since May 16, 2019 against LIU Post. Perry's counterpart,
Mikayla Gilgert, threw the entire seven innings, keeping the Hawks to three hits and one run.
GAME 11: No. 18 Saint Anselm 4, No. 22 Georgian Court 0 (Box Score)
A three-run third inning propelled the Hawks to a game two victory over Georgian Court as Smith's seven-strikeout performance kept the Lions off the scoreboard. Batting as the visiting team, senior
Erin Thompson (Newton, N.H.) drew a lead-off walk as part of an 11-pitch at-bat. Colson followed with a single before O'Hara drew a quick four-pitch walk, forcing the Georgian Court coach to re-insert Gilgert.
Throwing a complete game victory in game one, Gilgert came on with the bases loaded and gave up an infield single to Klaiber that drove in Thompson from third. Sophomore
Kylie Fitzpatrick (Newton, N.H.) followed later in the inning with a bases-loaded walk before Stackrow delivered a sacrifice fly, upping the Hawks lead to 3-0 before the frame's conclusion.
Smith held onto a no-hitter until the bottom of the third with two outs when Mungo singled to left field. In that span, however, she struck out three batters to keep momentum on the Hawks' side. The only run for the rest of the game by either team was a solo home run by O'Hara that sailed over the center field wall in the top of the seventh inning.
Smith gave up just three walks on the day and fanned seven batters across a 100-plus pitch outing. O'Hara led the Hawks in the second game with two hits and she finished the day as the only student-athlete on the Saint Anselm roster to have multiple hits in each game of the twinbill. She also owns the longest active hitting streak on the team, logging at least one hit in each of the past five games.
Klaiber extended her streak of reaching base safely to 23 consecutive games.
