POUGHKEEPSIE, NEW YORK -  Siena Softball began its 11th MAAC Championship appearance by posting its first-ever opening round win, Wednesday morning. The No. 3 ranked Saints defeated No. 6 Fairfield, 1-0, to earn their first postseason victory since 2015 and advance to the tournament's winner's bracket for the first time ever at Garland Athletic Field in Poughkeepsie, New York.

Posting its fifth shutout and season-best fourth consecutive win, Siena (22-23, 13-7) kicked off its third straight MAAC Championship appearance by stranding a Fairfield (26-23, 10-10) base-runner in each of the first two innings of play. Working behind the arm of junior right-hander Brooke Hughes, who struck out one batter in three innings of work, the Saints got the bats moving in the bottom of the third to plate the game's deciding run. After senior Jess Vollmer drew a walk and classmate Madysen Cossack singled to center field, junior Amanda Dodson took the fifth pitch of her at-bat to center field to bring in Vollmer with two outs.

Siena then brought in junior right-hander Maddie McMahon to finish the job in the circle in the fourth inning. The Red Bank, New Jersey native struck out six batters in four shutout innings of ball, allowing just a pair of hits in the process. The performance included downing two Stags each in the fourth and fifth frames and leaving runners at second base in the sixth and seventh. Earning her career-best 13th win of the season, McMahon (13-7) became only the fifth pitcher in program history to reach 30 victories in a career, and the second different pitcher to win 13 or more games in a campaign (Jessika-Jo Sandrini, 2013 & 2014).

Following the win, Siena improves to 5-20 all-time in the MAAC Championship and picks up their first postseason win in three tries as Gartland Athletic Field. Head Coach Bill Lajeunesse now owns four of the program's five postseason victories, and stands three wins away from becoming the first skipper in Siena softball history to reach 200 career victories.  The Saints now advance to play No. 2 seed and 2018 defending champion Monmouth on Thursday, May 9 at 11:30 AM. The Hawks hold a 2-0 postseason advantage over the Green and Gold and took home a regular season doubleheader sweep from Loudonville on April 29.

Prior to tomorrow's contest, Siena will join the five other participants in this year's tournament at the annual MAAC Postseason Awards Banquet Wednesday evening at 6:30 PM. The conference's 2019 major award winners and All-Conference Teams will be announced, with the event being streamed live on MAAC.TV.