FAIRFIELD, Conn. -- The Fairfield University softball team will finish its five-game road trip up later this week with a three-game series at Quinnipiac University, beginning with a single game on Thursday, May 1 beginning at 3 pm and a doubleheader on May 2 beginning at 2 pm. The game dates were changed from a Friday doubleheader and a single game on Saturday due to an inclement weather forecast.

The Stags clinched a spot in the upcoming Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) championship which starts next Tuesday based on their sweep of Iona University on April 29. Fairfield came from behind to pick up the win in game one and led from start to finish in the night cap, bringing its conference mark to 15-7 and putting in the third slot of the current standings. The team now faces another program which is head toward the tournament as well in Quinnipiac University, which owns a 14-8 MAAC record. This series will certainly play a factor for both teams as they both jockey for position in the tournament seeding.

Fairfield showed some muscle in its sweep of Iona yesterday, hitting four home runs in the second game including back-to-back-back long balls from Alivia Macaluso, Faith Camilleri, and Quinn McGonigle. The home runs were the third of the season for both Camilleri and McGonigle while Macaluso registered her first homer of the season. Fairfield has hit 17 home runs as a team which is the most since hitting the same number in the 2019 campaign. Delaney Whieldon is the team's top home run hitter so far with four that have cleared the fence.

Senior Charli Warren picked up her 200th career hit during the twin bill with Iona, becoming the sixth player in school history to reach that plateau. The outfielder is just five hits away from moving from sixth to fourth on the Stags' all-time hits list, surpassing Tara Hansen '06 (202 hits) and Kristen Filicia '14 (204 hits). Warren is the team's top hitter with a .376 batting average which is 50 points better than runner up Quinn McGonigle's mark of .325. Her hitting percentage is tied for eighth among the MAAC hitting leaders.

In the pitching circle, Peyton Shields has put up impressive numbers over her last three road appearances, winning two of those games and earning a save in the third contest. Against Iona, Shields picked up the victory in game one and tossed the final two innings of game two for her first save in support of winning pitcher Alyssa Weinberg. Weinberg remains one of the top hurlers in the MAAC this season, ranking in the top 10 for ERA (7th - 2.41), innings pitched (5th - 151.1), wins (tied for 3rd - 15), and strikeouts (3rd - 164).

Quinnipiac comes off a productive week after sweeping Manhattan in a midweek doubleheader on April 22 and taking two of three games against Sacred Heart in a series last weekend. The Bobcats have won nine of their last 13 games to bring a 19-23 overall record into this three-game set.

Mary Fogg represents the team's top hitter with her .333 batting average over her 38 starts, complementing her four doubles and three triples on the season. Sofia Vega serves as the Bobcats' top run producer with a team-best 25 RBI, a number aided by her team-leading four home runs. She owns a .271 batting average over her 42 starts this year. Sydney Horan has been very effective in the pitching circle for Quinnipiac, sporting a 14-12 record with three shutouts over her 34 appearances.