NEWPORT NEWS, Va. – Saint Louis won its first Atlantic 10 softball regular season title, finishing with a 20-5 (.800) record in league play and will be the No. 1 seed for the upcoming 2023 A-10 Softball Championship. The double-elimination tournament begins Wednesday at the Fordham’s Bahoshy Softball Complex/Murphy Field.
The Billikens finished at 29-23 overall and have five players batting .300 or better, led by Gabbie Kowalik at .393. Abby Mallo leads the team with 12 homers and 53 RBI and Chloe Wendling leads Saint Louis from the circle with a 2.62 ERA and 160 strikeouts in 213.2 innings pitched. SLU receives a first-round bye and will open against the winner of No. 4 George Mason and No. 5 Fordham on Thursday at noon.
Second-seeded Loyola Chicago also earned a first-round bye. The Ramblers are 18-6 (.750) in league play and 24-21 overall. LUC is led by Amelia Thomas at the plate with a .328 average and Haley Wallace’s, 26 RBI. Peyton Pepkowski and Andie Broniewicz lead the Ramblers pitching, with 2.48 and 2.49 ERAs, respectively. The Ramblers will face the winner between No. 3 Dayton and No. 6 Rhode Island on Thursday at 2:30 pm.
Third-seeded Dayton, which finished at 15-7 (.682) in league play and 33-18 overall, will begin play in the championship at 2:30 pm Wednesday against sixth-seeded Rhode Island. The Flyers are led by Emma Schutter with a .467 average and Alyssa Cacini’s 32 RBI and seven home runs. Rhody, which was 12-13 (.480) in the A-10 and 22-29-1, makes its first appearance in the A-10 Softball Championship since 2010. The Rams are led by Rachel Zingerman’s .304 batting average. The winner of the UD-URI game will play No. 2 Loyola Chicago Thursday at 2:30 pm.
No. 4 George Mason was 16-10 (.615) in league play and 31-21 overall. The Patriots are led by Nicole Bechtel’s .352 average, and Aly Rayle’s 2.20 ERA with 203 strikeouts. Mason will open the championship at noon ET Wednesday No. 5 Fordham, which finished the regular season at 11-10 (.524) in the A-10 and 20-26 overall. The Bronx Rams are paced by Neleh Nogay’s .392 average and Holly Beeman’s 2.00 ERA. The George Mason / Fordham winner will advance to face top-seeded SLU at noon on Thursday.
The winners of the two Thursday games will advance to meet in the semifinal, which will be played Friday at noon. The losing teams from the each round will play in the consolation bracket of the double-elimination tournament. The consolation bracket winner will face winner's bracket finalist in the A-10 Championship game Saturday at noon.
Tickets to the championship are available through the Fordham ticket office. All games of the A-10 Softball Championship will be aired on ESPN+. For watch links, results, photos and more, visit Softball Championship Central at atlantic10.com.