Newburgh, N.Y. – The Mount Saint Mary College Softball team locked up the fourth seed in the Skyline Conference Championship on Sunday and will play host to fifth-seeded Old Westbury Tuesday afternoon in a single elimination game to open the event. First pitch with the Panthers is scheduled for 4:00 p.m. with Live Stats and Video available for those unable to attend.
 
At A Glance: Mount Saint Mary won its last four games of the regular season to enter Tuesday's contest at 19-17 overall after completing the conference schedule with a 12-6 record.
 
The Mount Saint Mary offense has heated up down the stretch and now features three players hitting better than .300 on the season. Kaeli McAnally (Bay Shore, N.Y.) has burst onto the scene and is hitting .373 for the Mount over 67 at-bats and is tied for the team lead in runs with 24 while ranking fourth in RBI with 16. McAnally is tied for second on the team with nine multiple hit games, including a pair of three-hit performances.
 
Samantha Bendig (Tampa, Fla.) is hitting .320 following a strong last weekend of the season, sitting atop the team leaderboard in RBI with 22 and doubles with 11. Bendig has scored 14 runs for the Mount over 33 games played.
 
Olivia Ferara (Middletown, N.Y.) checks in with a .309 batting average and picked up her 100^th career hit on Sunday at Yeshiva. Ferara leads the Mount with 38 hits, is tied with McAnally for the team lead in runs with 24 and is second on the squad with 18 RBI. Ferara, who has clubbed a team-high two home runs, is on a current nine game hitting steak for the Knights.
 
Laura Dentato (Farmingdale, N.Y.) begins play on Tuesday with a .296 average and collected her 100^th career hit for the Mount on Saturday at Purchase. She has scored 22 times to date for the Mount and is tied for second on the team in doubles with nine while ranking third in RBI with 17. Dentato enters Tuesday's contest with a team-high 10 multiple hit games in 2023.

The Mount's pitching staff is anchored by junior Bridget Morris (Yorktown Heights, N.Y.) and freshman Grace MacDonald (Concord, N.H.). Morris holds a 10-8 record for the Mount and a 2.79 earned run average over 115.1 innings of work. Morris has struck out 145 batters against only 39 walks and is allowing opponents just a .233 batting average.
 
MacDonald has won nine games in the circle for the Knights over 102.2 innings in her first collegiate season. MacDonald is working to a 3.48 earned run average and has fanned 79 hitters.
 
Scouting The Panthers: Old Westbury comes to Newburgh on Thursday with a 12-16 overall record and lands fifth in the league standings after completing the conference schedule with a 10-8 record. Old Westbury won five of its last six regular season contests, with the lone loss coming in a 6-5 defeat in game one against the College of Mount Saint Vince on Sunday.
 
Alaina Reilly and Natalie Intrieri spark the offense for the Panthers, with Reilly hitting .420 with team-highs in hits with 29, doubles with 12 and RBI with 23. Intrieri leads the way with 25 runs scored for Old Westbury and is hitting .389 with 13 RBI.
 
Julia Pastrana has won nine games in the circle for Old Westbury and has worked 124.0 innings to date for the Panthers. Pastrana holds a 3.84 earned run average and has fanned 66 hitters.
 
Regular Season Series: The Knights traveled to Old Westbury on April 22 and settled for a split with the Panthers, taking game one 8-0 before dropping a 5-2 decision in game two.
 
In the opener, McAnally went 3-for-4 for the Mount and scored three times with Ferara driving in a pair of runs to lead the offense. Morris fired a complete game shutout, allowing two hits and walking two, while striking out eight.
 
In game two, The Mount took a 2-1 lead in the third, but saw Old Westbury score twice in the home half of the inning and two more times in the fifth. Pastrana earned the win, allowing two runs on six hits in a complete game victory.
 
Recent History: The game two loss in April stopped a 17-game winning streak for the Mount in the head-to-head series and it marked Old Westbury's first win against the Mount since a 12-4 victory in game one of a doubleheader on April 6, 2014. Mount Saint Mary continues to dominate the series, holding a 24-6 record against the Panthers since the start of the 2008 season.

What's At Stake: The winner of Tuesday's contest will advance to the double elimination portion of the championship when it will take on top-seeded Manhattanville on Thursday.