Posted: May 01, 2023
Sparkill, N.Y. - Emilie Olivier and DeAnna DeCaro hit game deciding home runs to lead St. Thomas Aquinas College to 3-1 and 4-3 wins over visiting Queens College today to finish the 2023 Softball Regular Season as Co-Champions of the East Coast Conference.
STAC and Molloy University both finished the regular season with 15-5 records to share the ECC title. By virtue of a tiebreaker system, Molloy is the top seed in the ECC double-elimination playoffs that begin Wednesday. In Wednesday's first-round games, STAC hosts Mercy College at 3:30 p.m. and Queens College visits Molloy at 3 p.m. The tournament will continue Friday and Saturday with the conference winner earning an automatic bid to the NCAA East Regional that starts next week.
STAC finished the season at 28-16, which ties the program record for single-season wins set last season. Today's games were preceded by a Senior Day ceremony that honored seniors Emilie Olivier, Emilee Mayer, Kaley Pederson and Selena Davis. Graduate students Sarah Williams and Carissa Della Vecchia were also recognized.
In today's first game, Olivier slugged a long two-run home run in the fourth inning to break a scoreless tie and freshman Eliana Raposo followed with a solo home run in the sixth inning. Carissa Della Vecchia was the winning pitcher by tossing a five hitter with nine strikeouts.
The Spartans erased a 3-0 deficit in the second game with an exciting comeback. In the fourth inning, Olivier doubled and Williams stroked a run-producing double. Pederson followed with a RBI single. In the sixth inning, DeCaro slugged a two-out, two-run home run over the right field fence to plate the tying and winning runs. Raposo notched the win with four scoreless innings of effective pitching backed by defensive support by Amanda Demmerle (centerfield) and Williams (third base).