PREVIEW: Softball opens East Region Championship on Thursday vs. Caldwell

5/11/2022 8:45:00 PM

MANCHESTER, N.H. – The Saint Anselm College softball program, seeded fifth out of eight teams in the upcoming NCAA Division II East Region Championship, will take on the No. 4 seed Caldwell on Thursday, May 12 at 2:30 p.m. on the campus of Adelphi University.

Saint Anselm (28-15), the reigning East Region champions, have claimed two regional titles since the 2018 season and have also picked up two Northeast-10 Conference postseason trophies (2019, 2021). The Hawks will take on the Cougars (37-15), who are competing in their first NCAA postseason since the 2018 campaign.

Last time out, Saint Anselm lost a historic extra-inning game in the Northeast-10 Conference championship game on Sunday. The Hawks traded zeroes with Adelphi up until the 11th inning, the longest title bout in league history, before a two-run walk-off home run sent the Panthers to victory, 2-0.

Caldwell earned an at-large bid to the NCAA postseason after the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference tournament was canceled due to inclement weather. The Cougars had won three of their first four CACC tournament contests before a suspended game where Caldwell was trailing Wilmington (Del.), 6-3, was not resumed.

The Hawks have won 28 games to date, reaching at least 20 wins for the sixth time in the last eight full campaigns under Head Coach Jill Gagnon. Saint Anselm has compiled a 161-48-1 (.765) record in the last five seasons, finishing as the National Runner-Up in Division II in 2018.

SCOUTING SAINT ANSELM

Saint Anselm has won eight of its last 10 games, finishing the regular season of NE10 play with a 20-6 record versus league opponents. The Hawks have now won 20 or more conference games in four of the last full seasons of play.
Compared to the 32 East Region institutions (with national statistics reporting most recently conducted on May 8), Saint Anselm ranks third in team earned-run average, third in WHIP, fourth in fielding percentage and sixth in walks drawn. The Hawks have also been hit by 26 pitches this season, the second-most in one campaign.
As a team, the Hawks have posted 118 walks which stands as the third-most in a single season. Saint Anselm posted a program-record 177 walks in 2018, the team's NCAA Division II runner-up season, and also produced 147 free passes in 1985.
Last time out, Saint Anselm lost by a 2-0 margin on Sunday in the Northeast-10 Conference championship game, falling to No. 22 Adelphi on a two-run walk-off home run. In the game prior, Saint Anselm overcame a 4-0 deficit to trip up Assumption in the NE10 Semifinals to earn a title game berth.
On Wednesday, sophomore Haile Hicks (Jefferson, N.H.) earned Second Team All-Region honors from both the National Fastpitch Coaches' Association (NFCA) and the Division II Conference Commissioner's Association (D2CCA).
Senior catcher Bailey Cain (Wellington, Fla.) was a First Team All-East Region selection by the NFCA, the first such honor of her career.
Hicks threw 175 pitches in what was the longest NE10 championship game in league history, going into the 11th inning. She drew the tough-luck loss, dancing around trouble all afternoon as Adelphi left a total of 11 baserunners on base throughout the game – she struck out nine on the afternoon.
Hicks, who had just two career innings of work to her credit entering the year, earned First Team All-Conference honors for Saint Anselm, producing a 21-4 record in the circle alongside a 1.17 earned-run average. She ranks second in the East Region in earned-run average and has conceded just 4.76 hits per seven innings, ranking fourth in the region.
Hicks has racked up 10 shutouts on the season, the second-most in a single campaign for a Hawks student-athlete. Limiting opponents to just a .186 batting average (second-lowest in team history for a single season), Hicks is now one of just two pitchers (Morgan Perry '21) to record at least 21 wins in a single season for the Hawks.
Hicks needs just two shutouts to match Perry's team record 12 shutouts, all logged during the 2021 campaign that saw Saint Anselm return to the National Championship for the second time in three years. Her 1.17 earned-run average as a sophomore ranks fifth in single-season history.
Hicks and junior Kate Irwin (Milford, Mass.) were named to the NE10 All-Tournament Team for their solid two-game performances for the Hawks in the league postseason. Irwin went 2-for-3 against Assumption on Friday and posted eight putouts for the Hawks on Saturday, taking away what appeared to be a home run for Adelphi with a stellar catch prior to the game going into extras.
Irwin has successfully stolen 16-of-17 bases this season, the fourth-best success rate in single-season team history. She holds the outright single-season lead for stolen base percentage (.941) among those who have swiped at least 15 bases.
Cain has a .483 on-base percentage, the fourth-best figure in single-season team annals. Her 28 walks this season set a single-season record, originally produced by Madison Borrelli '21 as a freshman in 2018. She leads the team in batting average (.339) to date and is the lone member of the Hawks roster to start all 43 games.
Senior Bre Klaiber (Ironton, Ohio), the 2021 NE10 Northeast Division Player of the Year, is batting .299 this season with 13 of her 32 hits going for extra bases. She recently picked up her 200th career hit, spanning a career between LIU Post and Saint Anselm, with a home run against Southern New Hampshire on Apr. 10.
In 218 career games, she is batting .334 with 213 hits in 638 at-bats. In Saint Anselm history (97 games), she has the program record for career on-base percentage (.464) and her 17 home runs hit just on the Hilltop ranks fourth all-time – combined with her eight homers from her two-year career at LIU Post (2018, 2019), she has slugged 25 in her career.
Competing in 20 career NCAA postseason games, Klaiber has 14 hits, 13 walks, 11 runs batted in and seven extra-base hits including five home runs. Last season, she smacked two home runs against West Chester in the National Championship in Denver, Colo., helping the Hawks to a first-game victory.
Sophomore Gracie O'Hara (Shrewsbury, Mass.) has collected Third Team honors from the NE10 for the second consecutive season, hitting .326 with 42 hits, seven doubles, one triple and three home runs for Saint Anselm. Leading the team with 12 multiple-hit games, O'Hara also produced the team's longest hitting streak of the season, batting .536 (15-for-28) from Apr. 12 through Apr. 23.
Junior Kylie Fitzpatrick (Danville, N.H.), a rare triple-major in the classroom at Saint Anselm, has hit in four consecutive games entering the East Region postseason. The two-time NE10 Defensive Player of the Year (2019, 2021) has pounded seven doubles and has driven in 18 runs to date.
Junior Kylee Royer (Blackshear, Ga.) had produced a team-leading seven games with two or more runs driven in, ranking ahead of Cain, Klaiber and O'Hara. She recently concluded an eight-game hitting streak, the second-longest by any Hawks student-athlete this season.

SCOUTING CALDWELL

Caldwell's offense ranks among the nation's strongest as the team's .359 batting average is sixth in NCAA Division II. The team has also turned 27 double plays on defense, ranking third, and collectively, the Cougars have pounded out 509 hits to rank 10th nationally.
The Cougars feature an on-base percentage of .411, ranking 18th in all of NCAA Division II. Caldwell leads all East Region programs in batting average (.359), hits (509), on-base percentage (.411), runs per game (6.17) and runs scored (321).
Taylor Mischler, Maya Rodriguez and Paige Sandoval were all named to the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference's All-Tournament Team. Earlier in the season, the Cougars had nine student-athletes selected to All-Conference teams, including the CACC's Rookie of the Year, Jessica Klein.
Klein is batting .465 on the season, leading the East Region in batting average by picking up 60 hits in 129 at-bats while providing seven doubles and one triple. She has walked 13 times and has fanned just 13 times as well, producing a team-leading on-base percentage of .514.
Mischler is a .338 hitter to date, collecting a team-best 15 doubles to her credit while driving in 25 runs on the season. Rodriguez is one of three Cougars hitting over .400 on the season, leading the way with 63 hits on the year. Sandoval has played in 37 games, hitting .380 with a 1.085 OPS.
Kayla Daly and Mariah Culver have split the starting responsibilities in the circle for Caldwell as the duo has combined for 34 of their team's 37 victories. While neither student-athlete relies on strikeouts, the duo has done an effective job limiting walks – Caldwell has issued just 78 free passes in over 331 innings of work.

LAST TIME OUT vs. CALDWELL (Mar. 19, 2022)

The Cougars and Hawks have met once during the 2022 season – Caldwell picked up a convincing 8-0 victory over Saint Anselm in five innings on Saturday, Mar. 19
Saint Anselm was limited to just three hits as Caldwell mashed 11 hits in 21 at-bats, easing past the Hawks in just five innings.
Caldwell scored in all but one inning, powering past Saint Anselm in the final game of a neutral-site doubleheader. An RBI double in the bottom of the first inning preceded a two-run second inning for the Lions – a sacrifice fly and an RBI single upped the lead to 3-0.
Three runs came around to score in the bottom of the third inning. A two-run home run and another RBI single created the six-run advantage through just three innings of game play. The bottom of the fifth inning ended in walk-off fashion as an RBI double came just two plays before a game-ending wild pitch allowed the runner from third to scamper home.
Freshman Sophia DiPippo (Cranston, R.I.) and junior Ava Vincequere (Shrewsbury, Mass.) gave up eight earned runs and 11 hits in five innings. The pitching tandem for Caldwell pitched a clean game, outside of three hits and a walk.

ALL-TIME vs. CALDWELL

Each team has one victory in the all-time series. Earlier this season, Caldwell run-ruled the Hawks by an 8-0 score in five innings on Mar. 19.
The first meeting between both programs came on Mar. 9, 2017, a convincing 10-1 victory for Saint Anselm.

ALL-TIME, NCAA CHAMPIONSHIP

The Hawks are in the midst of their fourth consecutive (and sixth-ever) NCAA tournament appearance (2002, 2015, 2018, 2019, 2021, 2022).
In the NCAA postseason, the Hawks have totaled a record of 18-12, including seven straight wins during the 2018 NCAA run. Saint Anselm has hosted three regionals (2018, 2019, 2021) along with the two super regionals from 2018 and 2019.
In the Hawks first ever appearance in the NCAA Tournament, the Hawks defeated C.W. Post, 7-1, in 2002.
The team's 2018 national runner-up finish was the first for any Saint Anselm varsity athletics program.
Caldwell is in the midst of its 15th NCAA postseason appearance and owns a record of 25-28 (.472). The Cougars last won an NCAA regional title in 2004.

Print Friendly Version