ERIE, Pa. – The Albright Lions softball team advanced to the ECAC Semifinals with a thrilling 6-5 victory over Hunter College on Wednesday afternoon.

Albright is the No. 4 seed and will battle top seed Penn State-Behrend in the semis on Saturday at 1 p.m. The other semifinal will feature No. 2 seed Neumann and No. 3 seed Pfeiffer and the two winners will play in the ECAC Championship game on Sunday at 1 p.m.

Click the following links for live video and stats for all three games this weekend courtesy of the Penn State-Behrend Sports Information department. Live updates will also be provided on the Albright Athletics' official Twitter account (@AlbrightLions). 

Scouting the Lions: Albright is now one win away from matching the single-season program record for wins (25) with the afore-mentioned 6-5 victory over Hunter on Wednesday. Junior Brooke Yerger gunned down the tying run at the plate to end the game and send the Lions to the semifinals for the first time in program history. The Lions are hitting .314 as a team and feature a few players that are chasing single-season records as junior Camille Sears is one shy of tying the RBI mark (39) and freshman Allison Melahn needs one more win to tie the single-season record of 17, while Yerger is two stolen bases shy of tying the program record (22). In the circle, Melahn is 16-5 with a 3.27 ERA and has tossed 13 complete games for head coach Marguerite DeLucas' squad and Sears got the final two outs in relief to notch her first save of the season.

Scouting Penn State-Behrend: The Nittany Lions dropped their opening game of the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference (AMCC) Tournament before winning two straight to stave off elimination and advance to the final day when they fell to Franciscan University. PSB hits .354 as a team and is led offensively by senior outfielder Carson Hauser who hit .417 with 60 hits, 27 stolen bases and 42 runs scored in 38 games to earn All-AMCC First Team honors. Hauser is the only player in program history to have 150 hits and 50 stolen bases in a career and holds the school record for career stolen bases. She was joined on the first team by infielder Katie Gozzard who hit .393-2-34 in 37 games and pitcher AJ Nichols who was named AMCC Pitcher of the Year after going 17-3 with a 2.45 ERA.

Scouting Pfeiffer: The Falcons advanced to the ECAC semifinals with a 7-0 victory over Franciscan on Wednesday afternoon as Kiana Millsaps allowed just one hit and fanned three over six shutout innings and added a pair of hits, while infielder Alexis Walter went 3-4 with a pair of doubles and two runs scored. Pfeiffer hit .384 as a team this season and shortstop Vada Blue Sherrill hit .492 with 15 home runs, 56 RBI and 49 stolen bases in 41 games, while junior Makenzie Pennell batted .489 with 13 home runs and 65 RBI in 41 games.

Scouting Neumann: The Knights won the Atlantic East Championship and have won 11 straight after a 3-2 victory over Alvernia in the Opening Round on Thursday afternoon. Neumann broke a two-all tie in the sixth as Grace Sperrazza beat out an infield single to drive in the go-ahead run and Nicole Wisser tossed three scoreless innings of relief to earn the win. The Lions and Knights split a doubleheader back on March 14 as Albright won game one by a score of 10-2 in five innings and Neumann took an 11-3 decision in game two. Sperrazza leads the team offensively as she hit .407 with four home runs, 37 RBI and 15 doubles in 41 games and ranked tops on the club in all four categories, while Jackie Selby hit .398 in 35 games for the Knights. In the circle, Jen Sieminski was named Atlantic East Pitcher of the Year after going 14-6 with a 3.60 ERA in 21 appearances (20 starts).

2019 ECAC Tournament Schedule

Wednesday, May 8 (First Round)
Game 2: No. 4 Albright 6, No. 5 Hunter 5
Game 3: No. 3 Pfeiffer 7, No. 6 Franciscan 0
Game 4: No. 2 Neumann 3, No. 7 Alvernia 2
 
Saturday, May 11 (Semifinals)
Game 5: No. 4 Albright vs. No. 1 Penn State-Behrend – 1 p.m.
Game 6: No. 3 Pfeiffer vs No. 2 Neumann – 3 p.m.
 
Sunday, May 12 (Championship)
Game 7: Winner Game 5 vs. Winner Game 6 – 1 p.m.