April 23-24, 2024
Rider Broncs (17-24, 9-6 MAAC) vs. Mount St. Mary's Mountaineers (10-25, 3-11 MAAC)
Location: Lawrenceville, NJ – Herb & Joan Young Field
Live Video – ESPN+ | Tuesday – Game 1 Game 2| Wednesday
Live Stats – GoBroncs.com
Twitter – Twitter.com/SoftballRider

What You Need To Know
- The Rider Softball team wraps up a stretch of nine games at home in a span of 11 games (Apr. 13-24), when it hosts Mount St. Mary's for a three-game series this Tuesday and Wednesday. The two teams will play a 2 p.m. doubleheader on Tuesday, before finishing the series with one game Wednesday at 2 p.m. 
- Rider opened MAAC play with a pair of series wins, taking 2-of-3 from both Canisius and Manhattan. After dropping 2-of-3 at Iona and at home against Siena to even their record at 6-6, the Broncs swept Fairfield to move to 9-6.
- Included in the sweep of Fairfield was a walk-off two-run triple from Kiersten Buchanan to turn a one-run deficit into the one-run win in Game 3 of the series on April 21.
- Fallyn Stoeckel has hit .472 (17-for-36) since March 29, raising her batting average to .345.
- Kristyn Gardner is hitting a team-best .349 average to go along with three home runs and 12 RBI's, while Jessie Niegocki is hitting .347 with 15 runs scored. Jadeyn Merrill has contributed a .327 average with 17 RBI's, while Kiersten Buchanan has hit .316. Maddie Luedtke has hit .307 with a team-leading six home runs. Luedtke's also has 18 RBI's. Kendall Reda-Fehsal has added five home runs and driven in a team-high 19.
- Niegocki also leads the Rider pitching staff with a 2.13 ERA. Merrill has added a pair of wins in the circle and a 3.32 ERA. Anna-Marie Groskritz has a team-high five wins, a 3.39 ERA and 58 strikeouts, while Kathryn Schmierer has won four games and posted a 3.89 ERA. Stoeckel has collected three wins while hurling a team-high 77.0 innings.  
- Gina Del Giorno leads The Mount with a .302 batting average, while Tori Bowles has a .295 average with team highs in hits (31), doubles (7), home runs (8) and RBI's (27). Julia Vincent has also hit .288 with 11 runs scored, while Abigayle Perry has scored a team-high 19 runs and stolen 17 bases. As a team, the Mountaineers have stolen 62 bases, second-most in the league behind Marist (75). By contrast, the Broncs have the league's fewest stolen bases (8), albeit with a 100% success rate (8-for-8).   
- Sophia Schmehl leads the Mountaineers' pitching staff with a 3.54 ERA. Olivia Murphy has won a team-high five games in 76.1 innings pitched, also a team high. Maddie Coleman's 36 strikeouts in 58.1 innings pitched are also a team high.  
- In non-conference play, the Broncs have won eight 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. The Broncs have also split doubleheaders with Army West Point (March 16), Saint Peter's (March 22) and Morgan State (April 17).
- 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. Mount St. Mary's was picked fourth 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.