Davenport, Iowa – For the third consecutive season, the No. 23 ranked Saint Xavier University softball team (37-10/26-1 CCAC) won the Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference (CCAC) regular season championship after a 7-2 victory over St. Ambrose University (Iowa) to complete a three-game series sweep Wednesday afternoon at St. Vincent's Athletic Complex in Davenport, Iowa. The Cougars started the series with a pair of wins Tuesday afternoon at the SXU Softball Field in Chicago, Ill. Redshirt sophomore infielder Jazmyn Casas (Berwyn, Ill./Illinois-Chicago/Taft) slugged her team-leading 11^th home run, a three-run blast, in a 7-2 triumph in game one. Sophomore pitcher Payton Antkiewicz (Dyer, Ind./Hanover Central) threw a two-hit shutout, and senior catcher Morgan Natanek (Palos Heights, Ill./Stagg) collected four RBI in an 11-0 win in five innings. Senior outfielder Haley Matlock (Indianapolis, Ind./Southport) went 4-for-4 with three RBI, two runs scored and a stolen base in the championship-clinching game.

Senior outfielder Fiona Crane (Evergreen Park, Ill./Northern Illinois/Mother McAuley) made NAIA history in game two Tuesday afternoon when she came away with three stolen bases, giving her 82 on the year, topping the previous record of 81 set by Brianna Glass from Indiana Tech University in 2019. Crane is just the third player in NAIA history to nab 80 or more bases in a season, joining Britney Webb from former NAIA program Belhaven University (Miss.), who had 80 steals in 2010.

With the regular season crown, the 19^th in program history since their first in 1985, SXU earns an automatic berth into the NAIA Softball National Championship Tournament Opening Round that begins on Monday, May 11. It's the 12^th time in 13 seasons that Saint Xavier has claimed a spot in the Opening Round since the NAIA went to the Opening Round format in 2013, and their eighth straight except for 2020 when the season was canceled due to the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Game One:

• Casas finished 2-for-3 with three runs and a walk.
• Senior infielder Mallory O'Connor (Bourbonnais, Ill./Olivet Nazarene/Bishop McNamara) had three hits in three at-bats with an RBI triple, a run scored, a stolen base and walk. Her walk set the program record for base on balls in a season, breaking a tie with SXU Hall-of-Famer Nicole Nonnemacher (2013-16), who drew 31 walks as a freshman in 2013.
• Junior infielder Aubrey Wroble (Crown Point, Ind./Crown Point) was 2-for-4 with a run and a steal.
• Sophomore designated player Isabelle Poortenga (Dyer, Ind./Lewis/Lake Central) went 1-for-3 with an RBI and a walk.
• Sophomore infielder Danielle Goodman (Poplar Grove, Ill./North Boone) also finished 1-for-3 with an RBI.
• Junior pitcher Lily Strand (Evergreen Park, Ill./St. Louis/Evergreen Park) won her team-leading 18^th game of the season (18-6), tossing a complete game with 7.0 innings, two earned runs, six walks and three strikeouts.
• The Fighting Bees took an early 1-0 lead in the top of the 1^st on an RBI double.
• Casas cracked a three-run homer over the fence in center field in the home half of the 1^st.
• St. Ambrose got a run back in the top of the 3^rd with an RBI single.
• Goodman pushed the advantage back to two on an RBI base hit in the bottom of the 3^rd.
• In the bottom of the 4^th, Poortenga lined an RBI single and an error allowed Casas to score for a 6-2 lead.
• O'Connor legged out an RBI triple in the bottom of the 6^th.
• Strand recorded two outs to start the top of the 7^th, however SAU would load the bases before Strand induced a pop up on the infield to secure the win, ending the 13-game winning streak that the Fighting Bees brough into the contest.

Game Two:

• Matlock was 3-for-3 with two RBI, two runs, a double and a stolen base.
• Natanek doubled, going 2-for-3.
• Goodman hit a pair of doubles in two at-bats with two RBI, two runs scored and a walk.
• Crane went 1-for-2 with two runs and a walk.
• Antkiewicz (14-3) logged her second shutout of the year, going 5.0 innings with three walks and three strikeouts.
• The Cougars rallied for five runs in the bottom of the 1^st. Wroble drove in a run on an RBI groundout, as did Poortenga. Goodman hammered a two-run double and she scored on Natanek's RBI single.
• SXU tacked on six more runs in the bottom of the 2^nd. Matlock slammed a two-run double, Casas laced an RBI base hit, and Natanek slugged a bases-clearing double.
• Crane swiped two bases in the bottom of the 1^st after she drew a walk to lead off the inning. She put down a bunt single leading off the bottom of the 2^nd, advanced to second on a wild pitch and promptly stole third to set the record.

Game Three:

• O'Connor tallied three hits in four at-bats with an RBI.
• Crane added to record for steals, nabbing two bases, scoring twice and going 2-for-4.
• Wroble smacked an RBI triple, finishing 1-for-4 with a run scored.
• Casas was 1-for-4 with an RBI double and a run.
• Junior pitcher Hailey Wesner (Oak Forest, Ill./Oak Forest) pitched her fourth complete game of the year, moving her record to 5-1 in the circle, throwing 7.0 innings with seven hits, two earned runs and a strikeout.
• Matlock and O'Connor hit RBI singles to spot Wesner a 2-0 advantage in the top of the 1^st.
• St. Ambrose tie the game in the bottom of the 4^th on an RBI base hit and an RBI fielder's choice.
• Matlock put Saint Xavier back on top in the next half inning with an RBI single.
• The Cougars pulled away in the top of the 7^th, plating four runs. Wroble sliced an RBI triple, Matlock legged out an RBI infield single, Casas smashed an RBI double and she would score on an error.

No. 23 Saint Xavier (37-10/26-1 CCAC) concludes regular season play with an NAIA Top 25 doubleheader at No. 15 Grand View University (Iowa) on Sunday, April 26 in Des Moines, Iowa. Game one is slated for a 12:00 pm start.