FAIRFIELD, Conn. – The Fairfield University softball team hosts five games this week including three key Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) contests at week's end. The Stags will open by hosting a pair of non-conference games before hosting Marist College, currently first in the MAAC standings, for a doubleheader on Friday and a single game on Saturday.
Before Fairfield gets to the Red Foxes, the team must first play a pair of in-state teams beginning with Central Connecticut State University on Tuesday afternoon before welcoming Sacred Heart University on Wednesday afternoon. Both games are scheduled for a 2 pm first pitch.
The Stags have enjoyed nearly a week off from the diamond, last playing a three-game series with Quinnipiac that covered Tuesday and Wednesday last week. The team came away with two wins in the set off stellar pitching performances from
Bailey Taylor.
The senior tossed two complete-game shutouts against the Bobcats, hurling nine scoreless innings on Tuesday in a 1-0 win before coming back for five more shutout frames in a 9-0 victory on Wednesday. Taylor scattered nine hits and did not walk a batter over her 14 innings a week ago while striking out six.
With Taylor dominating inside the circle, a trio of Stags put together a strong offensive three-game set.
Delaney Whieldon posted five hits in 10 at-bats with two runs scored in her three starts while
Allie Bridgman batted .400 with four hits and two RBI over her three appearances behind the plate. Martina Guitierrez came in between the two with a .429 hitting percentage which included a game-winning single in the 1-0 nine-inning win against Quinnipiac.
The Stags have three hitters who are above the .300 mark this season, led by infielder
Morgan Sylvestre's .377 batting average. The second baseman has a team-best 46 hits in 42 starts with 13 RBI and 11 stolen bases. Bridgman continues to build on her season totals, raising her team-best RBI total to 25 with a team-high .460 slugging percentage.
Charli Warren is also above the mark with a .307 hitting percentage, scoring 29 runs with 15 stolen bases to pace all Stags.
Taylor improved her overall record to 6-5 following her performance last week, taking over the team lead with 81 innings pitched and holding a 2.77 ERA. She has a near equal split between games started (10) and relief appearances (11) this season.
Central Connecticut brings a 24-15 overall record into this week's games which includes a 6-1 win over the Stags in late March. Paige Stringer continues to enjoy a dominant season from the batter's box with a .360 batting average in addition to pacing her teammates with 11 home runs and 35 RBI. Kaylee Whittaker has earned the most innings inside the pitching circle with 122 leading her to 12 wins with 106 strikeouts.
Sacred Heart is just one game off the .500 mark with a 25-26 record but owns a 16-8 record in Northeast Conference (NEC) play. Sam Kowalski sits atop the Pioneers statistics sheet with a .329 batting average based on her 48 hits in 48 appearances. She also has the most wins in the circle, sporting a 14-11 record with a 3.01 ERA.
Marist paces the MAAC standings with a 15-5 record after winning two of three games against Canisius last weekend, accounting for nearly half of their 33 victories on the season. The Red Foxes boast four of the top six hitters in the MAAC, namely Haley Ahr (.426 batting average), Peyton Pusey (.403), Miah McDonald (.394), and Alyssa Grupp (.386). Kiley Myers (14-6, 1.99 ERA) and Anna Sidlowski (13-4, 2.36 ERA) have garnered most of the innings this season, accounting for 249 of the staff's 321 innings pitched.
