Crown Point, Ind. – For the third consecutive season, No. 2 seed Saint Xavier University softball (34-12/17-3 CCAC) took home the Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference (CCAC) Tournament Championship after a 10-1 victory over No. 3 Olivet Nazarene University (Ill.) Saturday afternoon at the Crown Point SportsPlex in Crown Point, Ind. Witt the win, Saint Xavier earns one the conferences two automatic berths into the NAIA Opening Round after University of St. Francis (Ill.) won the regular season championship to claim the other auto-bid. It was also the fourth straight season that the Cougars and the Tigers met in the conference championship, not including the 2020 season that was canceled due to the COVID-19 Pandemic.

• Sophomore infielder Abbie Carr (Indianapolis, Ind./Roncalli) recorded three RBI with a double and a run scored going 1-for-3.
• Freshman infielder Kaitlyn Wright (Chicago, Ill./Marist) went 1-for-3 with two RBI and a run.
• Junior infielder Alexus Reese (Schererville, Ind./Lake Central) was 1-for-2 with a double, an RBI, a hit-by-pitch and a run scored.
• Senior outfielder Nicole Lovato (Channahon, Ill./Minooka Community) finished 2-for-4 with two runs and two stolen bases. She leads the team with 41 stolen bases and joins senior outfielder Lyda Robinson (Seneca, Ill./Seneca) as the only players to steal 40 or more bases in a season for SXU after Robinson swiped 42 bases a season ago.
• Junior pitcher Laila Summers (Joliet, Ill./Providence Catholic) came away with the win in the circle (21-7) after throwing 5.0 innings with eight hits allowed, one run and one strikeout.
• An error with two outs scored Lovato to give Saint Xavier a 1-0 lead in the top of the 1^st.
• ONU tied the game in the bottom of the 1^st on a two-out RBI double.
• Reese put the Cougars ahead in the top of the 3^rd, clubbing an RBI double to the gap in right center.
• SXU plated eight runs in the top of the 4^th to pull away. Wright lined a two-run single back up the middle and came around to score to batters later on an error. Carr cleared the bases with a three-run double to center field, and senior outfielder Sarah Bowen (Hampshire, Ill./Hampshire) and senior infielder Morgan Haefling (Gilberts, Ill./Hampshire) hit back-to-back RBI triples.
• Summers gave up back-to-back base hits to start the bottom of the 5^th, but would get an out on a fielder's choice, a fly out and a comebacker to punch Saint Xavier's ticket to the NAIA Opening Round.

Saint Xavier (34-12/17-3 CCAC) will find out its seeding and where they are traveling when the NAIA announces the Opening Round pairings on Tuesday, May 9 at 4:00 pm.