The Canisius softball team secured its 14th MAAC regular-season title and the program's first since 2010 as the Golden Griffins went on the road and swept Rider by scores of 17-0 (five innings) and 5-0 Sunday in Lawrenceville, N.J. Canisius finished the regular season with an overall record of 26-17 to go with a 15-5 mark in MAAC play, while Rider ended the year with a 12-35 overall mark to go with a 6-14 record in league play.
Canisius and Fairfield each finished MAAC play with a 15-5 record in league games, but Canisius secured the No. 1 seed in the 2015 MAAC Softball Championship by virtue of the Griffs' doubleheader sweep of the Stags on the road back on March 29. The 15 MAAC wins matches the program record for conference victories in a season, and this will mark the first time since 2010 where Canisius has served as the host school for the conference championship game.
In the first game, Canisius rolled over Rider on the Broncs' Senior Day, and the 17-0 win in five innings stands as Canisius' largest margin of victory against a MAAC opponent in school history. Sophomore Lindsey Silfer had a career-high five RBI in the game, and fellow sophomore Samantha Sharkey added three RBI, a triple and a home run to the hit parade, as the Griffs ended the game with 14 hits against Rider's losing pitcher Delany DeMello. DeMello took the loss after she allowed 13 runs, 10 earned, on nine hits to go with four walks and two strikeouts.
Canisius freshman pitcher Erika Mackie earned the win in the circle for the Griffs to improve to 14-7 on the year. She tossed her sixth shutout of the year on three hits while fanning three.
In the second game, an RBI-double by sophomore Jessica Berzins in the third and a four-spot in the top-half of the seventh helped Canisius post its 26th win of the season, the most for the program since 2010. Berzins went 2-for-4 with a double, and RBI and a run scored, and she was one of six Canisius players to record two hits in the game two win. The offensive support was more than enough for Canisius freshman starter Madi Weathers, who posted her 11th win of the season and her third shutout-victory in her last four starts, dating back to April 25.
Canisius will return to action Thursday, May 7, at 11 a.m., at the Demske Sports Complex when the team takes on the winner of the Siena-Monmouth game. The Saints and the Hawks will open the 2015 MAAC Softball Championship when they meet May 6 at noon.
Game Notes:Canisius now leads the all-time series with Rider by a 28-14 count... The Griffs have swept the final MAAC regular-season doubleheader of the season in three of the last four years... The team's 246 runs scored through 43 games this season are the most for the Blue and Gold since 2010... Berzins has reached base safely in 25-straight games, and her .441 batting average through the end of the regular season ranks eighth-best on the school's single-season batting average chart... Silfer has now reached base safely in 20-straight games, the longest streak of her career.
