MANCHESTER, N.H. – The nationally-ranked Saint Anselm College softball team will host Franklin Pierce University in the Northeast-10 Conference Divisional Finals with the best-of-three series starting at 12 p.m. on Sunday, May 9 on the South Athletic Fields.

Saint Anselm, the 18th-ranked team in the NCAA Division II, finished the regular season with a 24-4 overall record and won the Northeast Division Regular Season Championship for the third consecutive season. The Hawks will look to keep the winning going after claiming a 8-0 victory over Southern New Hampshire in the NE10 DIvisional Semifinals.

Sunday's matchup will include a three-game series with two wins necessary to secure a spot in the NE10 Championship game. The Southwest Division's Finals features New Haven and Adelphi with the winner of the best-of-three series taking on the Northeast Division winner, starting on Friday, May 14.
 
Live Statistics and Live Video of the NE10 Divisional Finals are available via the NE10 Now Network. As a reminder, off-campus spectators are not permitted to attend home Saint Anselm athletic contests.

HAWKS NOTES

• Entering the NE10 postseason, the Hawks won each of their past eight games, compiling a 24-4 overall record. Saint Anselm won the Northeast Division Regular Season Championship for the third-straight season and is currently ranked No. 18 in NCAA Division II, according to the latest National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) Division II Top 25 poll.
• The Hawks took down cross-town rival Southern New Hampshire, 8-0, in the NE10 Divisional Semifinals on Thursday afternoon. Junior Bre Klaiber (Ironton, Ohio) led the team in the hitting category, 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.
• The NCAA released its first full set of regional rankings this week - the Hawks check in at No. 2 on the eight-team list. Saint Anselm is behind the 33-4 Georgian Court squad. Six of the top teams in the East Region will be selected following the conference tournaments and selected as participants, heading to Saint Anselm for the regional tournament. On Monday, May 17, the NCAA will announce the field of 48 teams on NCAA.com with a 10 a.m. selection show.
• 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 against the Penmen.
• Recently, senior Morgan Perry (Bethany, Conn.) was named one of the Top 30 finalists for the 2021 Schutt Sports / NFCA Division II Player and Pitcher of the Year awards. She threw the full six innings against the Penmen, yielding just one hit to the Penmen while also fanning seven batters. In the win, she tied the single-season shutout record first set by Lisa Petell '99 with 10.
• Seven Hawks student-athletes were named to All-Conference teams by the Northeast-10 Conference on Wednesday. The group was headlined by Northeast Division Defensive Player of the Year Fitzpatrick, Northeast Division Pitcher of the Year, Perry, and Klaiber, who was named NE10 Player of the Year in the Northeast Division.
• The three major award winners are joined by teammates Lauren Washburn (Carmichael, Calif.) and Shannon Colson (Rochester, N.H.), who earned spots on the Second Team after strong senior campaigns. Freshman Gracie O'Hara (Shrewsbury, Mass.) accompanied sophomore McKenna Smith (Old Town, Maine) on the Third Team All-Conference list while O'Hara also was selected to the All-Rookie Team.
• Perry has now won Pitcher of the Year accolades twice in her career, winning in 2021 by posting a perfect 15-0 record in 15 appearances as a senior. She has logged the second-best earned-run average in the entire nation with a 0.31 mark and has struck out 170 batters in 90 innings pitched. Most impressively, she has conceded just four earned runs on the year and fired 13 complete games and 10 shutouts. In 2021, she has earned NE10 Pitcher of the Week twice and NFCA National Pitcher of the Week once. Earlier this season, Perry threw a no-hitter and a perfect game against Saint Michael's – the perfect game is thought to be the first in team history.
• Individually, Perry ranks first in Division II in the strikeouts per seven innings category (13.6) and has given up just 3.25 hits per seven innings, the second finest mark in Division II. Across a stellar career on the Hilltop, Perry has struck out a program-record 724 batters, ranking fifth on the NE10 all-time strikeout list. She ranks first all-time in program history in opponent batting average (.209), wins (82), appearances (114), starts (106), shutouts (35), innings pitched (656) and strikeouts (724).
• This marks the second Defensive Player of the Year award for Fitzpatrick as she first claimed the honor back in 2019. Fitzpatrick played in 29 games for the Hawks, logging a perfect 1.000 fielding percentage, recording 35 putouts and 35 assists without an error.
• Fitzpatrick has posted one or more hits in 12 of her last 13 games, including a three-hit performance against Franklin Pierce on Apr. 18. In 2021, she has racked up 34 hits and is the owner of a .382 batting average, stroking two home runs.
• Earning the Northeast Division Player of the Year award, Klaiber helped the nationally-ranked Hawks to a regular season title with her conference-leading .468 batting average. Over 28 games played, Klaiber has recorded 37 hits, 21 runs scored, 20 runs batted in, and 15 walks. Across a season-high 10 game hitting streak that spanned from Apr. 13 through Apr. 30, Klaiber batted .633 with 19 hits in 30 at-bats, racking up three doubles and a triple during that timeframe.
• The transfer from LIU Post notched a season-high four hits against Saint Michael's on Apr. 24 and, earlier in the season, she launched a grand slam against Assumption on Apr. 7 that helped the Hawks to victory. Across 169 career games between LIU Post and Saint Anselm, Klaiber is a .341 hitter with 171 career hits in just shy of 500 career at-bats.
• Washburn batted a career-high .367 as a senior, collecting 33 hits in 90 at-bats and driving in a team-leading 26 runs in just 29 games played. One of the toughest to strike out in the NE10, fanning just three times all season, Washburn heads into the NE10 postseason with an active nine-game hitting streak as she is batting .459 with 13 hits in 28 at-bats - she has totaled 13 runs batted in during the streak.
• Capturing her second career Third Team honor, Colson is batting .314 in her fifth season with the Hawks. She owns a .314 batting average with 27 hits alongside 23 runs scored, swiping six bases and drawing 13 walks. She logged three hits in the victory over Bentley on Apr. 5 and recently tallied her first career home run, doing so against Stonehill on Apr. 30. Colson is the program record-holder in games played (188) and stolen bases (87) - she sits just six hits away from 200 in her career.
• O'Hara has made an instant impact on the Hawks program, totaling a .320 batting average over 26 games played as a freshman. O'Hara has hit for power in her brief Saint Anselm career, recording six doubles, two triples, and two home runs.
• Smith recorded her first ever All-NE10 accolade on Wednesday, earning a spot on the Third Team. Smith helped the Hawks post the best team earned-run average in the nation with a 0.80 mark. Individually, Smith ranks sixth in NCAA Division II with a 0.80 ERA, averaging 8.6 strikeouts per seven innings to rank fourth in the NE10. She posted a career-high 14 strikeouts at Saint Michael's on Apr. 24 and finished the regular season with 4.70 hits allowed per seven innings.

SCOUTING THE RAVENS

• The Ravens head into the weekend after winning 2-0 in the NE10 Divisional Semifinals on Thursday. Cyrena Zemaitis used a complete-game shutout to win over the Greyhounds. On Thursday, she recorded her fourth complete-game shutout on the season, throwing 74 of her 102 pitches for strikes and scattered two hits while walking two batters.
• Nine student-athletes from Franklin Pierce own a batting average of .304 or higher, including Madi Killebrew's mark of .425. She has recorded 37 hits with five home runs and 23 runs batted in.
• In 2021, the Ravens have recorded 10 or more hits in a single game four times with their highest mark on the season at Saint Michael's on Mar. 20.
• In the circle, Franklin Pierce has recorded a 2.42 earned-run average across six pitchers as Zemaitis owns a 11-1 record heading into the NE10 Divisional Finals, recording a .153 opposing batting average, totaling only 10 earned runs over 68 and two thirds innings. Samantha Sylvester has also helped the team in the pitching category with a 6-0 record.

ALL-TIME vs. FRANKLIN PIERCE

• Since 2004, the Hawks hold a 35-9 advantage, claiming eight of the past 10 wins against their in-state rivals. The Ravens and Hawks split their regular-season four-game series earlier this year. On its home turf, Saint Anselm is 15-5 in its last 20 contests.
• In the most recent time that each program met, Saint Anselm exploded for 11 runs in the opener on Apr. 20, never looking back on the way to a 10-run victory that was shortened to five innings via run rule. The Hawks pounded out 15 hits in game one, but were stymied in the second game, logging just three hits and scoring their lone run on a defensive miscue.

ALL-TIME in NE10 POSTSEASON

• Heading into the 2021 NE10 Championship, the Hawks are 18-20 in the postseason over 16 years. Saint Anselm, as a program, has only appeared in one championship game situation, winning the team's first NE10 postseason championship in 2019. Saint Anselm has made the NE10 Semifinals round in three straight years, including this season's appearance.
• Perry won the Most Valuable Player award in the 2019 tournament, helping the Hawks earn their first team championship.
• Sunday's contest is the first time in program history that each of these programs will be tangling in the NE10 Tournament.