PLEASANTVILLE, N.Y. - The eighth-seeded Saint Michael's College softball team upset top-seeded Pace University, the 15th-ranked team in the nation, 2-1, in the opening game of a Northeast-10 Conference Championship first-round series on Tuesday at the Pace Softball Field before being eliminated via a 2-0 loss in the nightcap.
 
The Setters, who had run the table with a 20-0 NE10 record during the regular season, earned their national ranking from the National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA). Saint Michael's needed a sweep of the first-round series to advance in the tournament, while Pace had to win only a single game on Tuesday.
 
RECORDS

• Saint Michael's (18-19-1), Pace (38-10)

DOUBLEHEADER FACTS

• In the opener, Saint Michael's handed Pace its first home loss in 24 games this spring, snapping the Setters' 29-game home winning streak that dated back to last season.
• The Purple Knights defeated Pace senior Gisselle Garcia, a 2024 NFCA All-America selection, in game one, snapping her 17-game winning streak. She entered the day leading NCAA Division II in fewest hits allowed per seven innings (2.7) while standing second in earned run average (0.63) and shutouts (15), having yielded only three runs in her past 109 innings since March 27. Garcia had won her last 13 home decisions.
• Saint Michael's competed in its first NE10 Championship since 2021, when every program in the league appeared, while qualifying for the first time since 2005. The Purple Knights are now 3-4 in postseason play, with every loss by two runs or less. The tournament win was their first since May 7, 2005, also against the top-seeded host, Le Moyne College.
• The Purple and Gold downed Pace for the first time since March 24, 2018, also by a 2-1 count in Pleasantville.
• Saint Michael's went 1-3 against the Setters this year but lost those contests by a total of five runs.
• The Purple Knights' 18 wins this season tied for fourth in program history, and were the most since a school-record 26 in 2007.
• Senior Jenna Devens (Parsippany, N.J./Parsippany) finished the season batting .439, the highest by a Purple Knight since Kathy O'Neil '81 hit .481 in 1981. She ended the year with a school-record 33 RBI and will graduate holding career marks for hits (184), doubles (39), home runs (29), RBI (113) and walks (74). Her career batting average (.415), slugging percentage (.709) and on-base percentage (.499) are all second in program history only to O'Neil, who played prior to the program's resurrection in 1990.

GAME 1
SAINT MICHAEL'S LEADERS

• Devens, 1-for-2, 1 BB
• Junior CJ Davidson (Canyon Lake, Calif./Vista Murrieta), 1-for-3, 1 R, 1 RBI, 1 HR
• Junior Brooke Edgerly (Morley, Mich./Morley Stanwood), 1-for-3, 1 R
• First-year Brooke Bishop (Florida, Mass./Drury), 1-for-3, 1 RBI, 1 2B
• First-year Kate Parker (Quispamsis, New Brunswick/Kennebecasis Valley), 7 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 4 K

OPPONENT LEADERS

• Senior Alexa Borino, 2-for-3, 1 R, 1 2B
• Junior Willa Poplawski, 1-for-2, 1 RBI, 1 BB, 1 2B
• Garcia, 7 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 15 K

THE ACTION

• Davidson hit a solo home run for her fourth dinger of the year with one down in the first inning for just the fifth homer off of Garcia this year. It was just the fourth home run she has allowed at home in her career.
• Poplawski tied the game with a two-out RBI double in the bottom half.
• The teams each left a runner in scoring position in the bottom of the third and top of the fourth, and Pace stranded another at second in the fifth.
• Edgerly opened the sixth inning with an infield single before coming home with the go-ahead run on Bishop's two-out RBI double to center field.
• Parker worked around two walks to leave a pair of Setters in scoring position in the bottom half, highlighted by catcher Bishop making a diving catch of a foul pop for the final out.
• Parker set the Setters down 1-2-3 in the seventh, retiring the final batter looking on strikes.

GAME 2
SAINT MICHAEL'S LEADERS

• Bishop, 1-for-3
• Davidson, 1-for-3; 6 IP, 7 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 2 K
• Devens, 1-for-3
• Sophomore Maddy Vaughn (Saratoga Springs, N.Y./Saratoga Springs), 1-for-3

OPPONENT LEADERS

• Poplawski, 1-for-3, 1 R
• Senior Brianna Shea, 2-for-3, 1 RBI
• Junior Raelle Gorman, 1-for-3, 1 R, 1 RBI
• Sophomore Alyssa Smart, 6.1 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 4 K, win
• Garcia, 0.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K in relief, save

THE ACTION

• Devens and Bishop singled consecutively with two out in the first but were left on.
• Pace left sophomore Mikayla Hughes, who had led off with a single, at second in the third.
• In the fourth, Gorman and Shea knocked back-to-back RBI singles with two down to score what proved to be the only runs of the game.
• Vaughn singled with one out the following inning, but a double play erased the threat.
• Davidson singled with one down in the sixth to twice bring the tying run to the plate, but a fly ball and strikeout ended the frame.
• Saint Michael's sustained one final rally in the seventh, as first-year Maddy Booska (Burlington, Vt./Colchester) walked on four pitches with one out before classmate Andrea DiMauro (South Portland, Maine/South Portland) was hit by a pitch. However, Garcia, on in relief, fanned the final two hitters.