April 13-14, 2024
Rider Broncs (12-21, 5-4 MAAC) vs. Siena Saints (19-11, 5-3 MAAC)
Location: Lawrenceville, NJ – Herb & Joan Young Field
Live Video – ESPN+ | Saturday – Game 1 Game 2| Sunday
Live Stats – GoBroncs.com
Twitter – Twitter.com/SoftballRider

What You Need To Know
- The Rider Softball team returns home for a three-game MAAC series Saturday and Sunday against Siena. A Saturday doubleheader will be followed by a single game Sunday. The entire series will be broadcast on ESPN+.
- The series begins a stretch of nine games at home out of Rider's next 11. All nine home games are MAAC contests, while only two games away from Herb & Joan Young Field come in a non-conference twinbill at Morgan State (Apr. 17).
- Rider opened MAAC play with a pair of series wins, taking 2-of-3 from both Canisius and Manhattan. Most recently, Rider won Game 1, before falling in the second and third games of the series at Iona to carry a 5-4 league mark into Saturday's series opener.  
- Jessie Niegocki leads the Broncs with a .351 batting average, while Kiersten Buchanan has surged to a .342 average. Kristyn Gardner is hitting .333 on the season, including three home runs and 11 RBI's. Asiah Bell (.333), Maddie Luedtke (.329, 5 HR, 16 RBI's), Jadeyn Merrill (.323, 16 RBI's) and Kendall Reda-Fehsal (.309, 4 HR, 18 RBI's) have also provided offensive punch for the Broncs.  
- Niegocki also leads the Rider pitching staff with a 2.93 ERA. Merrill has added a pair of wins in the circle and a 3.38 ERA, while Anna-Marie Groskritz's four wins and 45 strikeouts in 58.2 innings both lead the Broncs.  
- Chloe Cummings leads all Siena regulars offensively with a .318 batting average, while Madi Silber has also hit over .300 at .309 with 17 RBI's. Emma Petersen paces the Saints with four home runs and 23 RBI's. McKenzie Swinson ha scored a team-high 22 runs.  
- Siena features two pitchers who've started 26 of the Saints' 30 games this season in Alissa Eimont and Nicole Patille. Eimont has posted an 11-4 record and a 1.58 ERA, striking out 60 batters in 88.1 innings. Patille has a 7-2 mark with a 2.64 ERA, striking out 64 in 77.0 innings pitched. 
- In non-conference play, the Broncs have won seven games in 2024, taking a pair of games from North Carolina Central and another from Towson at the ECU Pirate Invitational, before defeating Lafayette at the Mizuno Invitational at North Carolina and earning a victory over Kansas City at the Connie Claussen Classic. Most recently, the Broncs split home doubleheaders with Army West Point (March 16) and Saint Peter's (March 22).
- Rider walked off with a Game 1 win over the Peacocks, breaking out for three runs in the bottom of the seventh. Maddie Luedtke tied the game with a two-run triple, before scoring the winning run on Jadeyn Merrill's walk-off RBI single.
- The Broncs were picked to finish seventh in the MAAC Preseason Poll, matching their 2023 finish in the league. Siena was picked fifth in the poll.
- Groskritz pitched a complete-game, two-hit shutout to defeat Army West Point in the Broncs' home opener on March 16, striking out a career-high 10 batters.
- Two-time All-MAAC selection Jessie Niegocki was once again tabbed to the Preseason All-MAAC Team at utility. Niegocki hit a team-best .333 with 32 runs, eight stolen bases and a .413 on-base percentage offensively, while also leading the Broncs as a pitcher with a 3.19 ERA, 10 wins and 118 strikeouts in 118.1 innings pitched, limiting opponents to a .242 batting average.
- Also back for the Broncs is All-MAAC Second Team DP Jadeyn Merrill, who hit .281 with seven doubles, three home runs, 24 RBI's and 16 runs scored as a freshman in 2023. Her average rose to .320 in league contests, where she drove in nine runs and scored five times. She contributed eight multi-hit games.
- The Broncs returned their entire pitching staff from 2023 and one of their best pitcher from the two years prior. Niegocki, Kathryn Schmierer (3.44 ERA, 99.2 IP), Fallyn Stoeckel (3.83 ERA, 80.1 IP) and Merrill (3.94 ERA, 21.1 IP) return from last year's staff, while Anna-Marie Groskritz (2.64 ERA, 207.0 IP in 2021-22) returns to the circle for the Broncs following an injury that claimed her entire 2023 season.
- Rider also welcomes eight newcomers in junior college transfer outfielder Asiah Bell and freshmen Kiersten Buchanan (Infield - Holly Springs, NC/Holly Springs), Abby Cruz (Catcher - Corona, CA/Santiago), Shelby Dyer (Outfield - Clarksboro, NJ/Kingsway), Kendall Reda-Fehsal (Catcher - Succasunna, NJ/Roxbury), Olivia Smith (First Base - Freehold, NJ/Freehold Township), Tristen Wren (Outfield - Rancho Cucamonga, CA/Etiwanda) and Kayley York (Infield - Telford, PA/Souderton Area)
- The Broncs are led by seventh-year Head Coach Davon Ortega. Rider's 28 wins in 2022 were the most in Ortega's tenure at Rider by a nine-win margin (19, 2023). Following a 15-year absence, the Broncs made back-to-back MAAC Tournament appearances in 2021 and 2022.