WEEHAWKEN, N.J. (May 1, 2021) – The Stevens Institute of Technology softball team got back-to-back complete-game shutouts from both Jessie Masur and Erin Kreis and won game one 3-0 and game two 5-0 to sweep the doubleheader against Wilkes University and advance to the MAC Freedom Semifinals.

Masur earned the win in in the first game of the day after tossing her fourth one-hit shutout of the season while Kreis was the victor in game two after nearly tying her career-high with eight punchouts. The duo helped the Ducks move to 18-6 on the year and advance to the conference tournament semifinals in their first full year in the league.

Wilkes, meanwhile, closes its season with a 5-17 overall record after earning the #7 seed in the tournament.

"Any day you advance in the postseason is a good day," head coach Emily Kaczmarek said. "This is an exciting time of the year, and I'm eager to get the group back to work this week to keep building."

Stevens will now face off against #3 seeded Arcadia University in a three-game set starting on Saturday, May 8 in Weehawken with the if-necessary game three happening in Glenside, Pa. on Sunday, May 9. All four of the top-four seeds in the tournament earned doubleheader sweeps Saturday to advance.

In the first game of the day, the Ducks got the scoring started early with a run in the bottom of the first.

After Samantha Schattin walked to lead things off and Gina DeOliveira, the leader in all of NCAA Division III in sacrifice bunts per game, moved her to second with a sac bunt, Abigail Circelli stepped to the plate with two away and delivered an RBI double into left center to plate Schattin and make the score 1-0.

The score remained the same until the bottom of the fourth when Stevens struck for two runs to create some breathing room.

Back-to-back walks to Amanda Delorme and Madison Gemma led off the inning and Julia Baber was able to put them both in scoring position with a sacrifice bunt. Meg Halloran then beat out an infield single to short to bring home Delorme and double the lead.

Two batters later, DeOliveira made the score 3-0 when she ripped an RBI single into left center to bring home Halloran.

The three runs were more than enough for Masur (12-1) who struck out eight to earn her conference-best 12th win of the season. The senior from Montclair, N.J. retired 21 of the 24 batters she faced and did not allow a walk to improve her season strikeout-to-walk ratio to 10.44, good for 16th in the country.

Masur also lowered her season earned run average to an even 1.00 which also leads the league and ranks 10th in all of NCAA Division III among pitchers who have thrown at least 70 innings.

Offensively, Stevens got one hit apiece from Schattin, DeOliveira, Circelli, Siobhan Cottell, Circelli and Halloran and drew eight total walks as a team.

In game two of the day, the Ducks looked like they might fall behind early as a base hit, a wild pitch and a passed ball put a runner on third with one away in the top of the first.

Kreis (6-5) did not blink, however, as she punched out the side to strand the runner in scoring position.

After trading zeros for the first two and a half innings, Stevens got on the board first in the bottom of the third when Schattin laid down a perfect bunt single, moved to second on a wild pitch and raced home on an RBI single up the middle off the bat of Alex Schoellig, who now has an RBI in three of her last four games.

Much like game one, the Ducks created some separation with a crooked number in a late inning, this time in the fifth.

With one away, Schattin singled to left and DeOliveira singled to right and advanced to second on the throw to put a pair of runners in scoring position.

Schoellig then reached on a fielder's choice to bring up Circelli who came through with an RBI sac fly to right to bring home Schattin.

With still two runners in scoring position and two away, Cottell came up with the big blow with a two-RBI single ripped past the diving third baseman to swell the lead to 4-0.

In the sixth, Stevens tacked on another thanks to an error, back-to-back singles from Victoria Kapp and Lexi Gregule and an RBI groundout off the bat of DeOliveira.

Kreis was then able to shut things down in the seventh with a strikeout and a groundout with two runners on to seal the win.

The sophomore from Catonnsville, Md., tossed her second complete-game shutout of the year and has now given up one earned run or less in four of her last six starts. With the eight Ks, Kreis now ranks ninth in the MAC Freedom with 44 punchouts.

The command from the Ducks in the circle was fantastic all day as Masur and Kries combined for 16 strikeouts and just one walk. In fact, of the 51 batters faced in the doubleheader, only six went to three-ball counts.

Schattin and Cottell led the way for the Ducks at the plate as they both posted 3 for 3 performances while DeOliveira added two hits of her own.

Coming into the doubleheader, Schattin led the MAC Freedom with a .544 batting average and she was somehow able to improve upon that with a 4 for 4 day to swell the number to .569 which ranks fifth in DIII among hitters with at least 60 at-bats this season.  

Next Up: Stevens, the #2 seed in the tournament, will play host to #3 Arcadia in a three-game set Saturday, May 8 (Weehakwen) and Sunday, May 9 (Glenside, if-necessary) after the Knights earned a doubleheader sweep of #6 DeSales on Saturday. The Ducks took three of four from the Knights in the four-game set during the regular season. Live stats and video will be available on StevensDucks.com. 

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