FAIRFIELD, Conn. – With 20 non-conference games tucked away, the Fairfield University softball team will turn its focus on the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference this weekend as the Stags open up play in the MAAC with a pair of road doubleheaders. Head Coach
Julie Brzezinski will bring her team to Rider University on Saturday before heading farther south to Monmouth University on Sunday.
The Stags come off a solid 9-1 win five-inning victory over Yale University in their last outing, picking up their sixth win of the campaign. Seven different Fairfield University student-athletes registered an RBI in the game with
Charli Warren and
Megan Forbes each bringing home a pair of base runners.
Bailey Taylor was credited with the victory in the pitching circle with relief support from
Sam Lindsay.
Fairfield has a pair of .300 hitters on the statistic sheet beginning with Hailey Updegraff who sports a .333 hitting percentage with 18 hits in 54 at-bats. Her 10 extra base hits also represent a team high, breaking down to seven doubles, a triple and a co-leading two home runs.
Allie Bridgman is also above the mark with her .314 batting average, registering 11 hits in 35 at-bats with two homers as well.
Mikayla Rubin is knocking at the door with her .283 batting average but owns a team-high 13 RBI over her 20 starts this season.
Taylor joins
Katie Kudlacik as the two Stags with two victories in the pitching circle this season. Taylor's win against Yale came in her team-high 13
th appearance, five more than Bridgman and Kudlacik's pitched games. Taylor has completed two of her five starts and has the team's only save to along with her 3.18 ERA.
Rider has won its last four games which included sweeps of Wagner and Lafayette at home which improved the team's record to 13-9 overall. The Broncs are one of the top hitting teams in the country with a team batting average of .340, good enough for ninth in the nation. Jessie Niegocki paces the offense with her .438 batting average while Grace Stansfield is boasting a .393 hitting percentage. Elena Gonzalez represents the team's top run producer with 26 RBI, an average of just over one RBI per game.
Niegocki leads the pitching staff with her 1.88 ERA and averages 9.4 strikeouts per seven innings pitched so far this season. Kathryn Schmierer has won four of her five decisions this year thanks to her 2.08 ERA.
Monmouth brings a 5-22 overall record into the weekend before playing Iona on Saturday. The Hawks posted a 6-4 win against Delaware in their last outing on Wednesday behind a nine-hit effort by the team. Lindsay Baron has started all 27 games for Monmouth and owns a team-best .349 batting average with 11 doubles, a triple, two home runs, and 10 RBI. Stavi Augur, who picked up a pair of hits in the Delaware win, is next in line with a .265 batting average and a team-high 12 RBI.
Kylie Gletow collected her third win of the season in the decision over Delaware, owning a 4.78 ERA. Billie Kerwood has a pair of wins on her ledger and has fanned 56 hitters in 66 innings of work.
