HACKENSACK, N.J. – After two mid week wins, the Fairleigh Dickinson University softball team will resume Northeast Conference action this weekend when it hosts Sacred Heart and Bryant at the FDU Softball Field. FDU will take on the Pioneers at 1 p.m. Saturday and will face the Bulldogs on Sunday at 12 p.m. Both contests will be doubleheaders, with the latter being shown on NEC Front Row.
The Knights swept in-state rival Saint Peter's University on Wednesday with a 10-2 win and a 9-7 win through five innings before the weather forced a stoppage. FDU is now 15-13 on the year, 4-4 in NEC action and 2-2 in games played in Hackensack.
Freshman Courtney Slye (Mission Viejo, Calif./Capistrano Valley High School) leads the Knights with a .338 batting average this season and paces the squad with four home runs and has added 11 RBI. Freshman Madelaine Wilen (Bakerfield, Calif./Ridgeview High School), sophomore Angelique Nieves (Union City, N.J./High Tech High School) and senior Mikayla Fernandez (Mission Viejo, Calif./Mission Viejo) also maintain averages above .300 with marks of .337, .321 and .304, respectively. Sophomore Bryana Dorado (Oxnard, Calif./Oxnard) leads the team with 17 RBI in 28 games this season. Along with Emma Deluca (Vernon, N.J./Vernon Township High School)-Knighton, Wilen, Fernandez and Dorado all hit home runs against the Peacocks on Wednesday.
As a team, the Knights are hitting .269 this season with 17 home runs and 94 RBI and have outscored opponents, 103-83, with 201 hits on the year.
In the circle, freshman Loren Stavrou (Long Beach, Calif./Wilson Classical High School) leads the team with a 1.64 ERA and a 4-2 win-loss record. Senior Maire Shaughnessy (Culpeper, Va./Highland) maintains a 6-2 record and has three saves this season. Collectively, the pitching staff holds a combined ERA of 2.39 and a batting average against of .248.
The Pioneers of Sacred Heart are 17-17 on the year, with a 3-5 conference mark, after picking up wins over Wagner and earning a spilt with LIU Brooklyn.
Senior Nicole Sidor leads the Pioneers in all aspects. Sidor maintains a batting average of .395 through 34 games with six home runs and 24 RBI. She also leads the pitching staff with a 1.30 ERA and 124 strikeouts in 129.2 innings.
Collectively, the Pioneers have hit .246 through 34 games and have outscored opponents, 125-116, this season.
Bryant is 13-15 on the season, with a 4-6 Northeast Conference record. The Bulldogs defeated Wagner, split against Mount St. Mary's and Saint Francis University and fell to Monmouth and Central Connecticut.
As a team, the Bulldogs are hitting .268 and have been outscored, 145-126, through 28 games. Aubrey Mable leads the squad with a .357 average, five home runs and 13 RBI. Elle Madsen has added an average of .324 in 10 games, while Madeline Velasquez leads the team with 21 RBI.
Madsen also leads the Bulldogs pitching rotation with a 3.39 ERA and a win loss record of 6-4. The team allows 4.38 earned runs per game.
