Siena Softball put forth a combination of clutch situational hitting and keen defensive play to close out the 2019 regular season with a sweep of MAAC foe Saint Peter's Monday. The Saints downed the Peacocks, 9-1, in five innings to begin the day, and held on in extra innings to take game two, 4-0, in Jersey City, New Jersey.

Game One – Siena 9, Saint Peter's 1 (5 innings)

Taking the field after rainy conditions moved play back one day, the Saints cruised to their eighth 20-win season in the nine-year tenure of Head Coach Bill Lajeunesse with the win. After Saint Peter's (9-47, 2-18) broke onto the scoreboard with a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the seventh, Siena (21-23, 13-7) exploded in the top of the fourth, plating six runs of their own to take the lead. With runners on second and third and one out, a sacrifice bunt from junior Amanda Dodson allowed classmate Lauren Sabihon to come in to even up the score at one. The Green and Gold then sped off to their largest single-inning run total of the season using a two-out rally to help propel the team to its most runs in a game since the season opener in February.

With the game knotted at one in the top of the fourth, senior Jessika Jaime scored classmate Loryn DeFalco on an RBI single before coming home herself two plays later on the second of two straight errors, which allowed to senior Jess Vollmer to reach base and scored Jaime and junior Patricia Kalesse.  Two more hits rounded out the inning for the Saints, with freshman Sabrina Vargas singling to center to notch her second straight multi-hit performance, and Siena all-time doubles leader Madysen Cossack adding a two-bagger to extend her record. After laying down the Peacocks in order in the bottom of the fourth, Three more RBI singles from Jaime, Vollmer and Cossack in the top of the fifth allowed the contest to end early due to the run rule. Fresh off recording her 100th career strikeout on Saturday, junior right-hander Brooke Hughes (7-11) struck out a pair and walked as many in four innings of one-hit ball, while freshman Sarah Dowalo struck out a pair in the game's final frame.

Game Two – Siena 4, Saint Peter's 0 (8 innings)

Needing a series sweep to clinch a no. 3 seed in the MAAC Softball Tournament for the second straight season, the Saints then entered into a nail-biting pitcher's duel to cap ff their regular season campaign. Siena junior Maddie McMahon and Saint Peter's freshman Sydney Senerchia combined to retire 18 of the games first 19 batters in order, with Vargas, who began the game with a leadoff walk and stole her way to third, standing as the only base-runner heading into the top of the fourth. The standoff continued until the Peacocks finally managed a hit in the bottom of the sixth, breaking up McMahon's longest no-hit bit in a Siena uniform. The Red Bank, NJ product did not leave Jersey City empty-handed, however, becoming just the sixth pitcher in program history to eclipse the 300-career strikeout mark.

 After leaving runners on second and third in the seventh, McMahon and company sent the contest into extra innings for the fifth time in 2019, the most in a season for Siena since 2012. With Senerchia entering free ball with a no-hitter in-tact, the Saints proceeded to get on the board and end the bid in consecutive plays, with freshman Yamila Evans laying down a sacrifice bunt to allow Vargas, who had advanced to third on an error break the tie. Sabihon proceeded to plate Cossack on an RBI single and then come home with the same result from DeFalco. After taking third on a wild pitch, DeFalco made it a 4-0 contest thanks to an RBI single to center form Kalesse. McMahon (12-7)threw her seventh career shutout while entering the top-10 in program history in complete games with the victory. Her 11 strikeouts allowed her to hit 100 in a single-season for the second time in her career and move into seventh for most K's in a campaign thus far (106).

Following its third straight win and fourth sweep of a MAAC opponent this year, Siena now prepares to make its 11th total and third straight appearance in the MAAC Tournament, held this year at the Garland Athletic Field on the campus of Marist College in Poughkeepsie, NY. The no. 3 seeded Saints will begin their quest for their first-ever conference title on Wednesday, May 8, taking on no. 6 Fairfield in the double-elimination tournament at 11:00 AM. Siena split a regular-season series with the Stags back on April 19 and will look to win its first MAAC Tournament game since 2015.