POUGHKEEPSIE, NY – Anna-Marie Groskritz (Granby, CT/Granby Memorial) pitched a seven-inning no-hitter to send the No. 6 Rider University softball team past second-seeded Fairfield, 3-0, into the MAAC Championship winner's bracket final tomorrow against top-seeded Marist. The Broncs (25-32) matched their longest winning-steak of the year with their sixth-straight victory, while Fairfield (25-25) moved to a 3:45 p.m. first pitch in an elimination game vs. No. 3 Iona.

Scoreless through four, the Broncs struck for three runs in the top of the fifth. Kiersten Buchanan (Holly Springs, NC/Holly Springs) singled with one out and after a two-out walk from Fallyn Stoeckel (Nutley, NJ/Nutley), Shelby Dyer (Clarksboro, NJ/Kingsway Regional) delivered an RBI single to left to score Buchanan. The ball got away on the throw home, allowing the runners to move up to second and third, before Kristyn Gardner's line drive to right got over the right fielder's head for a two-run double, making it 3-0 Rider.

Groskritz did the rest. The only baserunners she allowed were on walks in the second and seventh innings. She retired 15 Stags in a row from the second to the seventh innings, including a full-extension dive to catch a bunt pop-up and preserve the no hitter in the sixth. She settled down after the walk in the seventh to get a fielder's choice and a strikeout to close out the victory.  

Quotes & Notes
"I can't say enough good things. The relationship I have with her, the work she's put in, this is everythin we've worked for for five years. That diving play… we spend a lot of time yelling at her, 'no, no, no.' Today was like, 'go for it, kid. So, great things."

"One at a time. You can't get too big or get ahead of yourself. It's one game, one inning at a time and that's all you take care of and stay together." – Rider Head Coach Davon Ortega

"I wasn't thinking about it because I just wanted to get a win. No-hitters are awesome, but a win is way cooler."

"We just practice a lot, go all out, play for fun and that's what happens when you play for fun." – Rider graduate pitcher Anna-Marie Groskritz

- After more than 25 years without a seven-inning no hitter at Rider, Groskritz joined Kathryn Schmierer (Apr. 23 vs. Morgan State) in throwing the Broncs' second seven-inning no-hitter in the last 15 days.
- The no hitter was the first in the MAAC Championships since Fairfield's Destinee Pallotto clinched the title for the Stags in the 2017 championship round.
- The Broncs have three wins in the MAAC Championships for the first time since 2003, when three were enough to win the tournament.
- Rider is now 10-10 in MAAC Championship play. The Broncs went 3-0 when qualifying for the first time in 2003 en route to the title, before going 2-2 in 2004 and 1-2 in 2006. After a 15-year absence from the tournament, the seventh-seeded Broncs went 1-2 in a three-game series at No. 2 Canisius in 2021, but had gone two-and-out in 2022 and 2024, before winning three in a row this season.  

Broncs by the Numbers
- Gardner had a two-run double.
- Dyer singled, drove in a run and scored another.
- Stoeckel walked twice and scored a run.
- Buchanan singled, walked and scored a run.
- Kendall Reda-Fehsal (Succasunna, NJ/Roxbury) added a single.  

Up Next
The Broncs move on to face top-seeded and MAAC Regular Season Champion Marist in the winner's bracket final tomorrow at 10 a.m. from Poughkeepsie.