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Softball Celebrating the 2023 MAAC Regular Season Title May 6, 2023 vs Mount St. Mary's
Ken Morey
0
Mount St. Mary's MOUNT 32-16, 15-4 MAAC
8
Winner Canisius CAN 27-14-1, 16-3 MAAC
Mount St. Mary's MOUNT
32-16, 15-4 MAAC
0
Final
8
Canisius CAN
27-14-1, 16-3 MAAC
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 5 R H E
Mount St. Mary's MOUNT 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 2
Canisius CAN 3 0 1 0 4 8 11 0

W: Giese, Megan (15-6) L: Neuhart, Avery (12-4)

1
Mount St. Mary's MOUNT 32-17, 15-5 MAAC
3
Winner Canisius CAN 28-14-1, 17-3 MAAC
Mount St. Mary's MOUNT
32-17, 15-5 MAAC
1
Final
3
Canisius CAN
28-14-1, 17-3 MAAC
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E
Mount St. Mary's MOUNT 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 3 0
Canisius CAN 2 0 0 0 0 1 X 3 7 2

W: Giese, Megan (16-6) L: Coleman, Maddie (5-6)

Game Recap: Softball |

Softball Clinches 2023 MAAC Regular Season Championship

The Canisius softball team clinched the program's 16th MAAC regular season trophy on Saturday, as the Golden Griffins swept a league doubleheader from visiting Mount St. Mary's at the Demske Sports Complex. Canisius won the first game 8-0 in five innings before taking the second game of the twin bill by the score of 3-1.
 
By winning the MAAC regular season trophy, Canisius (28-14-1, 17-3 MAAC) will be the No. 1 seed in next week's six-team MAAC Softball Championship tournament, which will be played at the Demske Sports Complex May 10-13. As the No. 1 seed, the Griffs will open defense of their MAAC tournament championship on Thursday, May 11 at 1:30 p.m., against an opponent to be determined.
 
Junior pitcher Megan Giese fueled the Griffs' wining effort in both games, as she allowed just one run on four hits to go with 22 strikeouts in 12 innings of work while earning the win in both games. The Orchard Park, N.Y., native walked just one batter on the day, while improving her record to 16-6 in the circle this season.
 
Game One Recap
Canisius ended Mount St. Mary's 13-game win streak with an 8-0 mercy-rule victory in five innings. The Griffs scored three times in the home-half of the first frame and never looked back.
 
Graduate student Nicole Rivait drove in the first run of the game with a triple to the gap in right center, allowing junior Christie McGee-Ross to score from second base. Moments later, Rivait scored on a sacrifice-bunt by junior Gianna Fazzolari, and then Fazzolari scored later in the inning after sophomore Rosie Gomez stripped a single to left to make the score 3-0 in favor of the home team.
 
The score remained 3-0 until the third, when Rivait smashed her fifth home run of the season, a solo shot, to make it 4-0. The Griffs ended the first game in the fifth with a four-run scoring surge, highlighted by an RBI-single to right by McGee-Ross, which pushed Giese and sophomore Saige Alfaro across the dish.
 
In the first game, Giese allowed just one hit to go with eight strikeouts and a walk in 5.0 innings of work. She threw just 73 pitches in the game one victory, and did not allow a Mount St. Mary's runner to reach second base.
 
McGee-Ross went 3-for-4 with two RBI and a run scored in the first game, while Rivait finished the opening contest of the twin bill by going 2-for-2 with a triple, a homer, two RBI and two runs scored. Senior Sophia Recrosio had two hits in the win, and junior Destiny Falquez went 1-for-3 with a double as the Blue and Gold banged out 11 hits off losing pitcher Avery Neuhart, who fell to 12-4 on the year with the defeat.
 
Game Two Recap
Giese returned to the circle for the second game and picked up where she left off in game one, as she fanned a season-high 14 batters and gave up just one run, an unearned run, on three hits. Canisius gave Giese all the run support she would need in the first inning after Fazzolari and Gomez each drove in runs with base knocks. Fazzolari's hit, a double to the gap in right center, allowed Saige Alfaro to score, and then Fazzolari crossed the plate moments later on Gomez's single to center to give the Blue and Gold a 2-0 lead.
 
The Mountaineers (32-17, 15-5 MAAC) cut the Griffs' lead to 2-1 in the third after Vanessa Martin raced home from third on a throwing error by Canisius. Gomez tacked on an insurance run for the Blue and Gold in the home-half of the sixth after she took an 0-2 offering from Mount hurler Maddie Coleman deep over the fence in left to make the score 3-1 in favor of the home team. That homer for Gomez was her team-leading eighth of the season, and she ended the regular season with 33 runs batted in, which places her in the top-20 for RBI in a season in Canisius program history.
 
Canisius had seven hits in the game two victory, with two of those coming off Gomez's bat. Junior Sydney Costan added a double to the winning cause, as the Griffs earned their record-setting 17th conference win of the season.
 
Game Notes
• Giese started both games of a doubleheader for the first time in her career.
• Giese recorded her 14th game with 10-or-more strikeouts and seventh this season, all of which have come in league play. 
• The 14 strikeouts in game two for Giese are the second-most in a game for her career. She fanned a career-high 15 batters against Manhattan on April 30, 2022.
• Giese is tied with Courtney Piar (2007) for the seventh-most strikeouts in a season in program history. She ended the regular season with 178 Ks.
• With Rivait and Gomez's home runs on Saturday, Canisius is one long ball away from tying the program record, which was established in 2005.
• Saige Alfaro's hit in game two gives her 53 base knocks on the year, which is one better than she had in her rookie campaign a season ago.
• Between the two games on Saturday, Canisius honored five graduating student-athletes as part of the team's Senior Day ceremony.
 
Up Next
Canisius will return to action on Thursday, May 11, at 1:30 p.m., when the team takes on an opponent to be determined on the second day of the 2023 MAAC Softball Championship. All of those games will be played at the Demske Sports Complex, starting on Wednesday, May 10 at 11 a.m. All games will be broadcast live on ESPN+. The full MAAC Softball Championship field and tournament schedule will be announced by the league at the conclusion of the regular season.
 
For complete coverage of Canisius softball, please follow @griffssoftball on Instagram and Twitter.
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