No 1 Monmouth Faces No. 2 Fairfield in 2018 MAAC Softball Championship Final
WEST LONG BRANCH, NJ - For the second straight season Fairfield University and Monmouth University will meet for the MAAC Softball Championship. Fairfield won the title last season.
Game time for the championship has been pushed up to 11 a.m. due to potential inclement weather in the area on Saturday. The game can still be watched on ESPN .
If Fairfield wins the first game tomorrow, the if necessary game will immediately follow.
NEED TWO
The number two seeded Stags will need to beat No. 1 seed Monmouth twice on Saturday to claim the title. Fairfield pulled the trick on Monmouth back in 2015. The Stags beat Monmouth 8-5 and then 11-5 for the championship.
DEJA VU
Fairfield seeks a second-straight title and will have beaten Monmouth for both of them. A title would be the Stags third in four years-all would have come against Monmouth.
FOURTH TIME THE CHARM?
Monmouth has made the last three championship finals and has lost all three-two to Fairfield and one to Marist.
SIXTH TIME FOR THE STAGS
Saturday will be the Stags sixth championship final appearance since 2011. Fairfield is 2-3 in the previous five trips. Fairfield lost the first three of those appearances and has won the last two.
REMATCH OF A MARATHON
These two teams played 14 innings on Friday. The two pitchers-Amanda Riley for Monmouth and Lauryn Rhinehart of Fairfield-combined for 236 pitches and 27 strikeouts. Those 27 strikeouts account for 52-percent of the total strikeouts at the championship.
Fairfield took the 1-0 and 2-1 only to see Monmouth come back to it both times. The Hawks won on an Alex Holzman solo home run in the bottom of the 14th.
FIRST TIME
A title on Saturday would be Monmouth's first in softball as a member of the MAAC.
GOOD RUN
Fairfield is 11-1 in its last 12 games. The only loss coming to Monmouth on Friday. Monmouth has won 12 in a row and is 23-1 in its last 24 games.
About the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference:
With 11 institutions strongly bound by the sound principles of quality and integrity in academics and excellence in athletics, the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) is in its 37th year of competition during the 2017-18 academic year. Current Conference members include: Canisius College, Fairfield University, Iona College, Manhattan College, Marist College, Monmouth University, Niagara University, Quinnipiac University, Rider University, Saint Peter's University, and Siena College.