FAIRFIELD, Conn. – There are some things that don't show in the box score and many times those intangibles win games. Fans will look at the statistics for the Fairfield University softball team's sweep of Siena College in the MAAC Championship and see that Mikayla Rubin collected an RBI double in each end of the doubleheader.

             But what they won't see are the key defensive plays that the senior made throughout the day that led to 3-0 and 5-2 wins, sending the softball team into the next round of the MAAC Championship next weekend.

              With the Stags clinging to a 2-0 lead, Siena put together a rally in the fourth inning that looked promising. With a runner on second and two out, Emma McLaughlin hit a grounder toward the middle of the diamond. Rubin took a few steps to her right and gloved the ball.

But rather than try to make the play at first which would not have resulted in an out anyway, she instinctively threw the ball home and caught Sabrina Vargas trying to score on the anticipation that the ball was going through. Rubin's throw was on the mark and stopped Vargas in her tracks, resulting in a rundown that took five tosses before Lacey Olaff finished off the play with a diving tag.

              "I knew that I wasn't going to have an out at first so I was just looking for the next play," Rubin said. "I saw the runner rounding third so I just got the ball to Drew (Westford) as fast as I could and we all made the play to the out."

              The play kept Siena from making a mark on the scoreboard, something that freshman pitcher Allie Bridgman was preventing from her first pitch of the day. The rookie did not allow a hit until the sixth inning, keeping the Saints off balance and not allowing them to recover any momentum. Bridgman earned her seventh win of the season with a three-hit shutout as she fanned one and walked two in her complete game.

              Fairfield provided Bridgman with the only run she would need in the first inning when Megan Forbes started the Stags with a walk. Rubin sent her to second with a sacrifice bunt, setting up Kaitlin Hoffman's RBI single a few pitches later, sending Forbes home for a 1-0 lead. The score went to 2-0 in the third inning when the top of the order found some more magic. Sam Merino opened the inning with a single which Forbes followed with another base hit. After Merino stole third base, Rubin launched a long double to left field to bring home the second run of the day.

              The Stags closed things out with their third run in the sixth inning after Kasey Sekula worked out a walk. Alexa Ortman was summoned to pinch run and the move paid off as she came home to score when Evie Wright slashed a base hit through the right side of the infield for a 3-0 lead.

              The fourth-seeded Stags waited a little longer to get their offense firing in game two, breaking through with three runs in the third inning. After pitcher Lauryn Rhinehart stopped the Siena bats for the first three innings, Fairfield rallied in the bottom of the third off four hits. Rubin cashed in the first run with an RBI double to left center which completed an impressive 10-pitch at-bat. Olaff followed with a two-run double to right center that brought the lead to 3-0.

              One inning later, Wright helped produce the team's fourth run when she reached on an infield error. After she was sent to second on a Bridgman sacrifice, Madison Robicheau ripped an RBI double that made the score 4-0.

              Siena scored its first runs of the day in the sixth inning courtesy of Isabelle DeChiaro's two-run double that scored Isabella Pardo and Neysa Ouellette, both of whom singled earlier in the inning. Fairfield quickly tacked on its fifth run in the bottom of the inning when Sekula sent a pitch well over the left center field fence to close the scoring.

              Rhinehart was sharp throughout the day, earning her eighth win of the season. She pitched into the seventh inning before yielding to Bailey Taylor who earned the final two outs for a save. Rhinehart struck out five, walked one, and scattered seven hits in her victory.

              "Today was one of the first days that we had all three aspects of the game going in sync," Head Coach Julie Brzezinski said. "We had great fielding with good hitting and good pitching and when that happens we are tough. And it was nice to have that happen in postseason games."

              Fairfield advances to the double-elimination round of the MAAC Softball Championship with the sweep this afternoon. The Stags will join Marist College in the four-team event next weekend after the Red Foxes eliminated top-seeded Monmouth University with a sweep. The other two teams will come out of the Canisius-Rider series and the Iona-Manhattan series which begin Saturday. The four-team event will take place on the campus of the highest remaining seed.