LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The Saint Anselm College softball team will enter the upcoming 2022 season as the No. 8-ranked team in NCAA Division II, according to the National Fastpitch Coaches' Association Top 25 Preseason Coaches' Poll released on Tuesday.

The Hawks finished the 2021 season ranked seventh in the NFCA national poll, producing a 33-7 overall record and winning the program's second NCAA Division II East Region Championship. Saint Anselm traveled to Denver, Colo. for the NCAA Division II Softball Championship, defeating West Chester by a 3-2 score in the opener before bowing out with back-to-back losses.

In Northeast-10 Conference play, the Hawks are the two-time defending postseason champions after giving up just five runs across the five playoff games in 2021. Saint Anselm clinched the Northeast Division as well, racking up a 21-3 record against the league to earn hosting rights throughout the conference postseason.

Saint Anselm returns senior Bre Klaiber (Ironton, Ohio), the reigning Northeast Division Player of the Year in the NE10, as well as the division's two-time Defensive Player of the Year in junior Kylie Fitzpatrick (Danville, N.H.). Third Team All-Conference pick Gracie O'Hara (Shrewsbury, Mass.) will also return for Saint Anselm after a standout debut campaign for the Hawks.

Since the start of the 2017-18 season, the Hawks own a dominant 134-34-1 (.796) record under Head Coach Jill Gagnon. Across the last three completed seasons (excluding 2020), Saint Anselm has won two East Region titles (2018, 2021) and finished as the regional runner-up once (2019).

The Hawks most recently ended their year as the national runner-up in NCAA Division II in 2018, the best finish (at the time) by any Saint Anselm varsity sports program.