LORETTO, Pa. - FDU softball concluded the 2022 season Friday as the third-seeded Knights were upended by the #4 LIU Sharks at Red Flash Softball Field 4-2 in an elimination game of the 2022 Northeast Conference Championship. The Knights finished the campaign with a record of 24-25, 14-10 in the NEC.

Falling behind 1-0 in the third inning after going hitless in the first three innings of play, FDU battled to a 2-1 lead in the bottom half of the fifth after a pinch hit two-run homer by junior Savannah Thornell to left field scored Javorsky and her fellow California native teammate to give senior left-hander Alayna Savaglio a one-run cushion down the backstretch. The homer came following a nearly 45-minute rain delay due to inclement weather in the area, the first of two lengthy weather-related delays in the nearly four-hour contest, though officially play would be two hours and 11 minutes.

Allowing at least a run in each of the following two innings, FDU quickly fell behind 4-2 which would hold to be the final score after head coach Chris Foye turned to his bullpen and entered junior Malori Bell who finished-off the game with 2.0 innings pitched allowing four hits, two runs (earned) in 10 batters faced. Savaglio's line finished with five innings pitched and five strikeouts, though she would allow five hits and two runs of her own, however, the Middletown, N.Y. native added to her already record-breaking total of strikeouts on the season for a year-long total of 188. The FDU ace has cemented the Knights' single-season record by 18 K's.

Knights batters struggled at the plate battling the wind, inducing fly outs 10 times in 23 at-bats against LIU pitching.

LIU advanced to face #2 Mount St. Mary's in another elimination game with the winner advancing to face top-seeded Saint Francis U (Pa.) in tomorrow's (5/14) championship final, though that game was suspended with LIU leading 2-0 in the top of the fifth inning and will be completed at 10 a.m. Saturday morning.