LOUDONVILLE, NY – Following four non-conference tournament weekends, Siena Softball is set to kick off its 2019 home slate Thursday afternoon. The Saints will welcome Army West Point to the Siena Softball Field for a mid-week doubleheader, with first pitch for each game coming at 2 PM and 4 PM, respectively.  

Thursday's contests can be viewed by logging on to SienaAllAccess.com. Viewers can catch all the action online for $7.95 via their laptops, desktops, and tablets, as well as on iOS (Apple) devices including those that support Adobe Flash 10.1 or greater (Android devices).

Special features to the Siena All-Access platform include enhanced graphics, up to the second live stats, and pertinent related twitter and ticker updates. Additionally, all games are archived upon their conclusion and can viewed at any time thereafter through the on-demand feature.

After returning to the Northeast last weekend at the Nor'Eastern Classic, Siena (3-11), will take the field Thursday after playing surface conditions pushed action back one day. The Saints will look to shake off a seven-game losing skid, which saw the team lose two games apiece at abbreviated tournament weekends over the last three weeks. The team's last win came on March 2 against first-time opponent Presbyterian, 4-1, at the Madeira Beach Invitational. Siena began the season with an impressive 10-2 triumph over Cornell in six innings, also in Florida, on February 22.

Having opened conference play at home last weekend, Army West Point (12-17, 2-1 Patriot League) will head to the Capital Region Thursday to begin a seven-game road trip, that also includes a stop at fellow MAAC school Iona next week. The Black Knights took two of three games against conference foe Holy Cross last weekend to begin home action on the season, having played in tournaments in Georgia, California and Florida in prior weeks. Aside from the Crusaders, who will head to Siena next weekend, Army West Point has faced three other common opponents thus far, defeating defending MAAC Champion Monmouth 3-1 in Clearwater, FL on March 15, and losing to both Central Michigan and North Florida, with Siena picking up 4-1 victory over the latter on Feb. 24.

Picked to finish fourth in the 2019 Patriot League Preseason Poll, Army West Point saw three players named to the Preseason All-Conference squad, including infielder Emily Ballesteros, pitcher/designated player Taylor Drayton and infielder Carrie Reilly. The Black Knights enter the week leading their conference in scoring with 3.79 runs per-game, while also sitting first in the league and 50th nationally in stolen bases per-game, averaging 1.48 swipes per-contest.

With Thursday's doubleheader serving as a touch-up before a pair of conference series this weekend, the Saints will enter their 2019 conference campaign having been picked to finish fifth in the MAAC with 67 total points in the MAAC Preseason Coaches Poll. Additionally, senior captain Madysen Cossack earned Preseason All-MAAC honors after receiving First Team All-Conference nods in each of the last two years, capped off with the MAAC Player of the Year award in 2017. The Agoura Hills, CA native leads the conference and sits 40th nationally in batting average thus far, hitting .439 with 18 hits in 12 RBI. Cossack also sits second in the league and 43rd in the country in on base percentage (.521), while fellow senior Jess Vollmer is ranked as the toughest in the MAAC and the 36th hardest batter in the country to strike out, having done so just once in 28 at-bats this year.

Leading the third best offense in the MAAC into battle this weekend, Cossack has begun to re-write the program's record books during the first two months of the season. Through the first 14 games of the 2019 campaign, she needs just one double to tie and two to break the all-time program record for doubles, with 50 to her name. Cossack also ranked second all-time in career batting average (.373), on-base percentage (.457) and slugging percentage (.620), third in walks (69), fourth in RBI (115) and total bases (276) and seventh in hits (166). The co-captain has reached base safely in every game to start the year and began the season on an 11-game hitting streak, which totaled 22 consecutive games with a hit dating back to least season, good for the second-longest in program history.

With the two teams facing off for the fifth time in the last six seasons, the Black Knights hold a 10-6 advantage in the all-time series, which dates back to 1981. The Saints will look to break off a three-game losing streak against their Empire state rivals, including a doubleheader sweep on May 4, 2017 in Loudonville.

 The doubleheader begins an eight-game homestand for Siena, who will welcome in conference foes Iona and Fairfield for doubleheaders on Saturday and Sunday, respectively, before facing off with Sacred Heart in a pair of mid-week games next Tuesday.