Newburgh, N.Y. – The Mount Saint Mary College Softball team, fresh off a 9-1 First Round win over Sarah Lawrence on Wednesday, will square-off with second seeded St. Joseph's-L.I. on Friday to begin the double elimination portion of the 2019 Skyline Conference Championship on Friday. First pitch with the Golden Eagles is scheduled for 4:00 p.m. on the campus of Farmingdale State.
 
At A Glance: The Mount enters Friday's tilt with the Golden Eagles at 14-20-1 following a 9-1 win over Sarah Lawrence on Wednesday. The Knights have won two of their last three overall, including an 8-3 triumph over top seed Farmingdale State to close the regular season.
 
Emily Lang (Westtown, N.Y.) and Nicolette Moustouka (Seaford, N.Y.) enter the weekend hitting over .300 for the Mount, with Lang leading the way at .351 and Moustouka checking in at .308. Lang leads the team in hits with 39 and RBI with 18, while Moustouka paces the Mount with 18 walks and a .438 on-base percentage.
 
Senior Amanda Almodovar (Goshen, N.Y.) has crossed with a team-high 21 runs for the Knights and is hitting .286 to go along with a perfect 16-for-16 effort in stolen bases. Jillian Picarillo (Troy, N.Y.) and Morgan O'Neill (Little Falls, N.J.) are hitting .278 and .276, respectively, with O'Neill driving in 17 runs and Picarillo totaling 10 RBI.
 
Lauren Oury (Bethpage, N.Y.) is tied with Lang for the team lead in home runs with two and is tied with O'Neill for the top spot on the team in doubles with six. She has driven in 11 runs and scored 17 to support the Mount Saint Mary offensive attack.
 
Junior Bridget Bennett (Gardiner, N.Y.) paces the Mount in wins inside the circle with a 6-6 record and has worked a team-high 85.0 innings. She is allowing opponents to hit just .227 against her and has fanned 60 batters in 17 appearances while pitching to a 2.47 earned run average. O'Neill holds a 5-4 record and a 3.00 ERA in 60.2 innings of work, striking out 40.

Mount Saint Mary enters the weekend seventh in the conference in team batting, but third in the league in team pitching. Bennett ranks second in the conference in earned run average and opponent's batting average, while Lang sits fifth in the league in hits.
 
Last Time Out: The Knights used a six-run third inning and a three-run sixth to ease to a 9-1 First Round win over Sarah Lawrence on Wednesday to advance to the double elimination weekend.
 
Mount Saint Mary outhit Sarah Lawrence 11-6 in the contest and featured four players with multiple hits in the gamet. Picarillo rounded out the day 3-for-3 with two runs and an RBI with Almodovar, Moustouka and O'Neill all recording two base hits. Moustouka scored twice for the Knights with O'Neill finishing with three driven in. Bennett drove in two runs for the Knights, going 1-for-3 with a run scored in the contest.
 
Bennett made the start for the Mount and worked the first 3.0 innings, allowing a run on just one hit. She fanned two, but walked five. O'Neill came on for the win in relief firing three shutout frames and striking out four in moving to 5-4 on the season. 
 
Scouting St. Joseph's: The Golden Eagles earned the second seed in the championship by virtue of a 19-13 overall record and a 13-3 mark against Skyline Conference rivals. St. Joseph's has won its last three contests overall, including a sweep of Purchase to end the regular season.
 
St. Joseph's features a pair of players hitting better than .400 on the season, led by a .462 mark from Jenna DeFina. She paces the team in at-bats with 104, hits with 48 and runs scored with 30 heading into the weekend. Kassandra Tibbetts holds a .421 batting average and leads the team with 11 doubles to go along with 20 RBI.
 
Lindsay Ness leads six players with at least 10 RBI on the season with a team-high 21 and is hitting .337 with Elise Grau checking in with a .286 batting average and team-highs in walks with 15.
 
The Golden Eagle pitching staff is anchored by a 7-5 record from Catherine Zucker who holds a 2.55 earned run average in 77.0 innings. She has fanned a team-high 56 and worked seven complete games. Alyssa Rivera has won six games for St. Joseph's and struck out 17 in 48.0 innings of work.
 
St. Joseph's enters the weekend fourth in the conference in team batting at .298 and second in team pitching with a 3.15 staff ERA. DeFina ranks second in the Skyline Conference in batting average and hits and leads the league in runs scored. Tibbetts sits second in slugging percentage and doubles for the Golden Eagles.

Regular Season Series: The two teams split the regular season set in Patchogue on April 7 with the Mount falling 2-1 in game one before rallying for a 6-4 win in the nightcap.
 
The Mount was held to only a single run in its last at-bat in the opener, with the Golden Eagles eventually pushing across a run in the home half of the seventh to score the win. Bennett finished the opener 2-for-3 with a run scored.
 
Grau and Jenna Kreiling drove in runs for the Golden Eagles with Zucker picking up the win with six strikeouts.
 
In game two, Lang finished 4-for-5 with two RBI and Moustouka added two hits and a pair of runs scored as the Knights outhit the Golden Eagles 14-7. O'Neill picked up the win in relief with 3.1 innings of shutout work, striking out five.
 
Recent History: Since the 2008 season, the Mount holds an 18-7 record over St. Joseph's, including two wins over the Golden Eagles in the 2018 Skyline Conference Championship on its way to its third straight conference crown.
 
The Knights had an 11 game winning streak stopped with a game one loss to the Golden Eagles in the 2018 regular season, but have won 14 of the last 16 meetings overall.
 
What's A Streak: The winner will move through the winner's bracket on Saturday, while the loser will face elimination against the loser of the Farmingdale State and College of Mount Saint Vincent game which will be played prior to the Mount's contest on Friday.