MORAGA, Calif. – Saint Mary's Softball will compete in their final home game of the 2022 season this Wednesday against Stanford at 3:00pm. The Gaels will also be honoring the mothers on the team with a short Mother's Day celebration before the first pitch.

THE DETAILS
Saint Mary's Gaels (16-27) vs. RV Stanford Cardinal (32-16)
Wednesday, May 4th at 3:00 p.m.
Cottrell Field – Moraga, Calif.
Watch | Live Stats

LAST TIME OUT
Saint Mary's Softball honored its senior class on Sunday afternoon in the finale of their three-game series against Pacific. The four SMC seniors were celebrated during Senior Day festivities prior to the game, and all four seniors played on Sunday. With a great pitching performance from one of the seniors, and a steady offensive attack, Saint Mary's was able to win on Senior Day and take the series from the Tigers with a 4-1 win. The Gaels improved their record to 16-27 (4-8) while dropping Pacific to 12-34 (2-9).

EARLE STRIKES AGAIN
Sofia Earle tossed a pair of complete game wins for the Gaels, and was recognized by the West Coast Conference as their Pitcher of the Week.
 
Earle regained her dominant form this weekend as she tossed a pair of complete games against the Tigers, helping Saint Mary's win their first WCC series of the season. She combined to strikeout 16 Tigers, walk just three, and allow 11 hits over her 14 innings, while only allowing two runs (one earned). Earle now owns 10 complete games on the season, and set a new career-best in strikeouts with 130 (her previous best was 123 from last season).
 
This is the second time during the season that Earle has taken home the WCC Pitcher of the Week award, the first time that she has won the award twice in one season. Earle is now the fourth pitcher in the West Coast Conference to win the award multiple times this season.

SUCCESS FOR NISHIHARA
As part of a winning weekend for Saint Mary's Softball, some big individual performances helped get them their first West Coast Conference series win of the season. One of those strong performers was Marissa Nishihara, who earned herself the Bay Alarm Student-Athlete of the Week award for the first time during the 2022 campaign.
 
Nishihara continues to hold down the leadoff spot for Saint Mary's in stellar fashion, and had a great week in that spot to close out the month of April. She hit .417 across for Saint Mary's game, going 5-12 at the plate, with a walk and a stolen base added in. She was the leading run-scorer for the Gaels, crossing home five times, and also driving in one run. She had multiple hits in games one and three of the series, which were the two games Saint Mary's won against Pacific, and she tripled in the Senior Day win on Sunday. Nishihara was also the only Gael to score in all four games played on the week.

ABOUT STANFORD
Stanford Softball has been fighting to compete in one of the more competitive conferences in the nation. They currently stand with a 32-26 overall record and an 8-10 conference record, with one of their biggest successes this season being a series win against Arizona State. This win against the No.1 team in the Pac-12 was marked as their first against the Sun Devils since 2009. Holding it down against Arizona State and many others, the pitching staff have shown outstanding performances in the circle with a total ERA of just 1.85.