Newburgh, N.Y. – The Mount Saint Mary College Softball team won its second straight Skyline Conference Championship on Sunday with a 1-0 win over Sage in the Final Round. Junior Cindy Connoly (Walden, N.Y.) worked her second shutout of the championship on her way to being named the event's Most Outstanding Player for the second straight season.
 
Both teams had chances to break through in the early innings, with Sage getting a leadoff walk from Katy Rimawi in the second. She stole second and advanced to third with two outs before Connoly struck out her counterpart, Amy Hart, to end the threat.
 
In the home half of the second, Connoly led off with a double and the Knights put runners on the corners with two outs, but Hart got a flyout from Nicolette Moustouka (Seaford, N.Y.) to keep the Knights off the board and the game scoreless.
 
In the top of the fourth inning, the Gators recorded their only two hits of the game on one out singles from Jessica Adams and Rimawi. With runners on second and third and one out, Connoly struck out the next two batters to keep the Gators off the board.
 
The only run of the game came in the bottom of the fourth when the Knights put runners on the corners with no one out. Michelle Surdan (Acton, Mass.) worked a tough walk to lead off the frame and got to third on a single through the right side from Connoly. Following a groundout that got runners to second and third, Taylor Canto (Walden, N.Y.) sent a sacrifice fly to left field to push Surdan home with the game winning run.
 
After the Gators put two runners on the in the fourth, Connoly held them without a base runner in their final three at-bats, including four strikeouts. Connoly struck out the final two batters of the game to clinch the title.
 
Connoly finished with two of the team's four hits, including a double. Breanna DePasquale (Brooklyn, N.Y.) and Emily Lang (Westtown, N.Y.) recorded the other hits, with Canto driving in the only run of the game. Surdan scored the game's only run and worked one of just two walks in the contest.
 
Adams and Rimwai picked up the only two hits in the game off of Connoly for Sage, with Adams stealing one base and Rimawi swiping a pair of bags.
 
Connoly was dominant in the final, working her team leading 20^th complete game and moving to 13-7 on the year. She lowered her season earned run average to 1.65 with her second shutout of the championship and her fourth of the season. She allowed just two singles and fanned 11 against a single walk. Hart took the tough luck loss with one run allowed on four hits.
 
In three appearances in the championship, Connoly went 3-0 with two shutouts with a 0.33 earned run average in 21.0 innings. She fanned 30, including 15 against St. Joseph's-L.I., against just one walk. At the plate, she hit .556 in nine at-bats with two doubles, a triple and three RBI.


Sunday's win pushes Mount Saint Mary to 27-12 overall and gives it 10 straight wins. The Knights will learn their first NCAA opponent on Monday at 1:00 p.m.
 
Game Notes: The Knights are 6-0 in the Skyline Conference Championship over the last two years…Connoly has been named the event's Most Outstanding Player in each of the last two seasons…The Knights moved their program record win total to 27.