Skip To Main Content
Skip To Main Content
Outfielders huddle

PREVIEW: Softball to face No. 22 Adelphi on day two of NCAA play

5/12/2022 10:30:00 PM

GARDEN CITY, N.Y. – The Saint Anselm College softball team will take on nationally-ranked Adelphi University on day two of the NCAA Division II East Region Championship on Friday, May 13.

SAINT ANSELM COLLEGE HAWKS (28-16)
Roster | Schedule & Results | Statistics | News

No. 22 ADELPHI UNIVERSITY PANTHERS (41-12)
Roster | Schedule & Results | Statistics | News

The first elimination game of the four-team regional pod will begin at 12:30 p.m. The 10 a.m. showdown will feature Pace and Caldwell, both victors on Thursday in their respective regional-opening games. Adelphi lost to Pace by a 6-0 margin while Caldwell came from behind for an 8-7 victory over the Hawks.

Down 7-2 in the bottom of the seventh inning with three outs to go, Caldwell came roaring back to earn an 8-7 victory over Saint Anselm on Thursday. Despite the loss, the Hawks offense generated 13 hits, the second-most in a single game this season and will look to keep the bats going on Friday.

Adelphi, the No. 22-ranked team in NCAA Division II, was blanked for the sixth time this season, generating just four hits and one walk against Pace in its first game on Thursday. The Panthers pitching staff also gave up 10 hits to Pace, doing so for the second time this season.

Friday's game is a rematch of the Northeast-10 Conference title game played on Sunday, May 8, a 2-0 victory by Adelphi over Saint Anselm. The Hawks, winners of East Region postseason titles in 2018 and 2021, had won the prior two NE10 postseason championships over Adelphi (2019, 2021).

SCOUTING SAINT ANSELM

  • Senior Bailey Cain (Wellington, Fla.), a First Team All-Region pick at catcher, and freshman Stephanie Tardugno (Methuen, Mass.) paced the Saint Anselm offense, picking up three hits each against Caldwell, while batters five-through-nine in the lineup drove in at least one run on the day.
  • Tardugno matched a career-high with three hits against Pace and is hitting .536 (15-for-28) in her last 10 games, leading the team. She has raised her season batting average to .293, collecting 24 hits in 82 at-bats while drawing nine walks. Tardugno has driven in 12 runs this season.
  • Saint Anselm has lost three of its last four games but did post a nice comeback in the 5-4 victory over Assumption to open the NE10 postseason, overcoming a 4-0 deficit to win with five unanswered runs. The Hawks finished the regular season of NE10 play with a 20-6 record versus league opponents, winning 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 120 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.
  • In the NE10 title game on Sunday, No. 22 Adelphi smacked a two-run walk-off home run to down the Hawks. 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).
  • Hicks drew just her fifth loss of the season on Thursday, giving up seven earned runs in six-and-a-third innings to Caldwell. On the season, she has logged 21 victories in the circle after coming into the 2022 season with just two career innings of work to her credit. Entering the East Region postseason, Hicks ranked second in the East Region in earned-run average.
  • 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 .192 batting average (third-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 1.40 earned-run average as a sophomore ranks ninth 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 last 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 .490 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 (.353) to date and is the lone member of the Hawks roster to start all 44 games.
  • Senior Bre Klaiber (Ironton, Ohio), the 2021 NE10 Northeast Division Player of the Year, is batting .300 this season with 14 of her 33 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 210 career games, she is batting .334 with 214 hits in 641 at-bats. In Saint Anselm history (98 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 21 career NCAA postseason games, Klaiber has 15 hits, 14 walks, 11 runs batted in and eight 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 .331 with 44 hits, seven doubles, one triple and three home runs for Saint Anselm. Leading the team with 13 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 19 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 ADELPHI

  • Adelphi was held to just four hits in its opening-round loss to Pace, committing one error in the field as well. The Panthers stranded five runners on base in the defeat in what was the team's first loss since Apr. 23 at Pace – a win streak of nine games was snapped as well.
  • Courtney Wengryn is batting a team-best .358 for the Panthers, collecting 14 doubles with five home runs and 36 runs batted in. She is followed by Alexa Sacripante and her .352 batting average – she leads the team with 20 extra-base hits, including 18 doubles, and has driven in 33 runs.
  • Jaden Farhat has reached base in 14 consecutive games entering Friday's tilt with Saint Anselm. She is ranked third on the team with three home runs and has walked 14 times.
  • The Panthers boast the region's most impressive one-two punch in the circle with Claire Fon and Lauren Hibbs – the duo has combined for 41 victories in the circle. In total, three Adelphi pitchers have produced the fourth-best team earned-run average in the country (1.34) prior to the loss on Wednesday.
  • Piloted by NE10 Coach of the Year Carla Campagna, Adelphi has pitched 22 shutouts this season, tying with Indianapolis for the most in NCAA Division II. The team's 7.7 strikeout-to-walk ratio is leading all pitching staffs in the country.
  • Fon, the NE10 Pitcher of the Year, is the conference's leader with an 0.94 earned-run average. Hibbs ranks fourth with a 1.45 earned-run average, trailing Pace's Giselle Garcia and Hicks from Saint Anselm.
  • While pitching can be considered the team's strength, the Adelphi offense ranks second in the NE10 in batting average (.292), scoring (244 runs), slugging percentage (.412), sacrifice flies (17), stolen bases (62), and triples (19).
  • Angela Lignelli was named the NE10 Defensive Player of the Year for the Panthers, mentoring arguably the best pitching staff in the region from behind the plate. She allowed just four steals in NE10 play, the lowest mark in the NE10 and led the league in total chances (220) and putouts (209) prior to the start of the NCAA postseason.
  • Sophia Cicchetti and Ziara Shreter have each recorded seven triples on the season, tying for the NE10 lead. Faith Camilleri has smacked seven home runs, driving in 35 on the season. She has also racked up 10 doubles, trailing Sacripante (18) and Wengryn (14).

ALL-TIME vs. ADELPHI

  • The Panthers hold the lead in the all-time series, 12-10-1, after winning three games against Saint Anselm earlier this season.
  • Adelphi and Saint Anselm have met five times in NE10 and NCAA postseason play, with the Hawks winning four of the five games.
  • In games played in Garden City, N.Y., the Hawks are 3-5 all-time.

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 18-13, 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.
  • Adelphi has made 14 postseason appearances and owns a 30-27 (.526) record all-time in the NCAA tournament. The Panthers won the 2015 and 2016 regional titles.
Print Friendly Version