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Canisius University Athletics

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Megan Giese warms up in the circle at Monmouth (March 20-21, 2021)
Masfort Boima
8
Winner Canisius CAN 4-5, 4-5 MAAC
1
Manhattan MAN 6-5, 6-5 MAAC
Winner
Canisius CAN
4-5, 4-5 MAAC
8
Final
1
Manhattan MAN
6-5, 6-5 MAAC
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E
Canisius CAN 7 0 0 0 0 1 0 8 7 1
Manhattan MAN 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 7 2

W: Churchill, Alexis (1-0) L: Rising, Jessie (2-2)

2
Winner Canisius CAN 5-5, 5-5 MAAC
0
Manhattan MAN 6-6, 6-6 MAAC
Winner
Canisius CAN
5-5, 5-5 MAAC
2
Final
0
Manhattan MAN
6-6, 6-6 MAAC
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E
Canisius CAN 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 2 5 0
Manhattan MAN 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 5 0

W: Giese, Megan (2-2) L: Puppolo, Kali (2-3)

Game Recap: Softball |

Softball Closes the Weekend by Sweeping Manhattan

The Canisius softball team closed out its weekend road trip to Riverdale, N.Y., in style on Saturday, as the Golden Griffins swept a MAAC doubleheader from Manhattan at Gaelic Park. In the first game, Canisius scored early and often en route to an 8-1 victory, followed by a 2-0 shutout victory in the nightcap, thanks to a career-high 10 strikeouts by freshman pitcher Megan Giese.
 
The two wins on Saturday evens Canisius' record at 5-5 on the year, while the Jaspers fell to 6-6 with the pair of losses. Canisius, which has now won four of its last five, took three of the four games from Manhattan in the weekend set.
 
Game One Recap
The Griffs jumped all over Manhattan starter Jessie Rising, scoring seven times in the top of the first en route to the 8-1 victory in the day's first game. Canisius sent 11 batters to the plate in the top-half of the first, and the team took advantage of a pair of Manhattan errors in the frame as well.
 
Senior Erin Hufford started the day off with an infield-single, one of her three hits for the game, and she later came around to score on a Manhattan fielding error to make the score 1-0 in favor of the visiting team. Sophomore Sarah Cantley, freshman Gianna Fazzolari and fellow freshman Sydney Costan all recorded RBI-singles in the offensive outburst to make the score 4-0, and then the Griffs took a 5-0 lead after freshman Destiny Falquez drew a bases loaded walk that allowed Cantley to jog home and score from third.
 
Hufford posted her second hit of the inning moments later, as she singled down the first base line to push Fazzolari across the plate. Costan also scored on that play to make it 7-0 for the Blue and Gold thanks to another Manhattan error.
 
Those seven runs were more than enough support for junior pitcher Alexis Churchill, who picked up her first win of the season in the circle after she scattered seven hits and fanned six in the complete-game effort. Rising took the loss for the Jaspers after she allowed seven runs, five earned, on five hits while walking three in just one inning of work.
 
Game Two Recap
A two-run homer by Fazzolari and seven solid innings in the circle by Giese proved to be the difference for the Blue and Gold as Canisius scored the twinbill sweep with a 2-0 win over the Jaspers in the nightcap. The win in the circle for Giese, her second in the last two days, moves her to 2-2 on the year.
 
Canisius scored the game's only runs in the top-half of the fourth. Cantley got the frame started with a base hit back up-the-middle, one of Canisius' five hits in the second game. She was replaced by freshman Christie McGee-Ross, who came on to pinch run. McGee-Ross would score a short time later as Fazzolari took an offering from Manhattan starter Kali Puppolo over the fence in right-center to put the Blue and Gold on top, 2-0.
 
Giese made that lead stick, as she went seven innings and allowed five hits and two walks to go with her career-high 10 strikeouts. Manhattan threatened in the home-half of the sixth by loading the bases, but Giese got the Griffs out of a jam by striking out Manhattan's Lauren Rende to end the frame.
 
Fazzolari went 1-for-3 with the two-run homer, her first career home run, and two RBI, while seniors Kara Paradowski and Sue Vi, Cantley, Falquez all recorded base knocks in the victory. The 2-0 shutout win on Saturday afternoon stands as the Griffs' third shutout victory of the season.
 
Head Coach Kim Griffin's Postgame Comments
"In the first game today, the players followed the scouting report and we went right at them. Manhattan came back with the same starter that gave us some trouble in game two on Friday, but they were locked in from the start and we just kept scoring runs. That kind of start really put Alexis [Churchill] at ease, and it allowed her to go out and just go to work. She had good command today, and that was the difference from some of her earlier outings this season. She just kept getting stronger as the game went on, too, which was exciting to see."
 
"Megan [Giese] is so composed out there, even as a freshman. She never gets too high, or too low. She understands different situations, and she approaches the game with a sense of confidence. You'd never know if it was the first batter of the game, or if the bases are loaded – so just presents a calm domineer and that keeps our defense ready."
 
"It was good to see Gianna [Fazzolari] get her first career home run today. She's a big bat for us in the middle of the line-up, so for her to get that homer and get us on the scoreboard, that was great to see."
 
Game Notes
• Canisius is now 57-19 all-time against Manhattan. The Griffs are 6-1 in their last seven games at Manhattan's Gaelic Park, dating back to 2016.
• The Griffs have outscored their opponents 14-1 in the first inning of games this season, and the Blue and Gold has not been shut out by an opponent this year.
• Hufford has now collected three-or more hits in a game 10 different times in her career.
• Giese is the first Canisius freshman pitcher to strikeout out 10-or more batters in a game since former Griff Amanda Baun struck out 11 Iona hitters on May 15, 2010.
• Cantley extended her hitting streak to five straight, and she's now reached base safely in six consecutive games.
• Fazzolari leads the team with three multi-RBI games this season.
 
Up Next
Canisius will continue its 12-game road stretch April 10-11 at Iona, when the Blue and Gold goes on the road for a pair of MAAC doubleheaders against the Gaels. The two-game set on April 10, in New Rochelle, N.Y., is set to begin at noon.
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