MANCHESTER, N.H. – The nationally-ranked Saint Anselm College softball team took down cross-town rival Southern New Hampshire, 8-0, in the Northeast-10 Conference Divisional Semifinals on Thursday afternoon at the South Athletic Fields.

The Hawks, who entered the contest ranked 18th in the latest National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) Division II Top 25 poll, improve to 25-4 overall on the year. Saint Anselm is also ranked second in the latest NCAA Division II East Region rankings after earning the Northeast Division Regular Season Championship and the number one seed in the NE10 Tournament.

The Penmen end their season with a 13-13 overall record.

Saint Anselm advances to the NE10 Divisional Finals where they will face second-seeded Franklin Pierce in a best-of-three series beginning Sunday, May 9 at 12 p.m. On Thursday, the Ravens claimed a NE10 Divisional Semifinals win over Assumption, 2-0.

The Hawks started the single-elimination contest with two runs in the first inning and never looked back on the way to the 8-0 victory. After shutting out the Penmen for the first time in 2021, the Hawks have not allowed a single run in seven of the past nine games. Saint Anselm tied its season single-game high in doubles with four.

Junior Bre Klaiber (Ironton, Ohio) led the Hawks in the contest, recording a team-high four hits with one run batted in. Senior Lauren Washburn (Carmichael, Calif.) and sophomore Kylie Fitzpatrick (Danville, N.H.)  each posted two hits and two runs batted in. Fitzpatrick scored a career-high three of the Hawks' eight total runs. Eight of the nine Hawks batters had one or more hits in the contest.

Senior Morgan Perry (Bethany, Conn.) threw the full six innings, yielding just one hit to the Penmen while also fanning seven batters. In the win, Perry tied the single-season shutout record first set by Lisa Petell '99 with 10.

In the first inning, Washburn started the Hawks scoring with a single to left center, driving in Fitzpatrick from second to put the hosts up 1-0. Senior Kat Stackrow (Wynantskill, N.Y.) followed with a single to the opposite side, sending Washburn home.

Perry would get the first nine Penmen batters out as she recorded five strikeouts and four ground outs to herself in the opening three innings. After a lead-off double by Klaiber in the third, freshman Gracie O'Hara (Shrewsbury, Mass.) tripled to right field to bring Klaiber home.

Later in the inning, senior Abbie Murrell (Scarborough, Maine) singled to center field but was gunned out trying to go to second base - she did, however, secure the run batted in as O'Hara scored before the out was recorded.

In the next inning, the Hawks pushed away from the Penmen with a three-run, three hit inning as Fitzpatrick had a double to left center, scoring senior Shannon Colson (Rochester, N.H.) and junior Bailey Cain (Wellington, Fla.) to extend the Hawks lead to 6-0. In the next at-bat, Klaiber was able to bring Fitzpatrick home with a single to left center.

Washburn closed the contest with the game-winning run batted in as she singled to left center, scoring Fitzpatrick to end the game via the eight-run rule.