Box Score The College of Staten Island women's softball season came to a close today, as the Dolphins were eliminated from the NCAA Division III National Championship Tournament as part of Regional play with an 8-3 loss at the hands of Kean University in an elimination game at Montclair State University's Softball Stadium.  The Cougars staved off elimination and will play again tomorrow, advancing their record to 28-18-1, while the Dolphins closed their campaign at 24-16.

CSI was announced the home team for the game, and before they could swing a bat, the team was a big hole.  Leadoff batter Katie Schuh started by turning a Victoria Procopio pitch into a bloop single to right, and Megan Cegielski answered with another base hit.  Sandra Binkiewicz was next up, and sent a long fly ball to center field.  CSI's Brittany Smith covered a lot of real estate, but the fly ball bounced out of her glove, loading the bases.  

Kean pitcher Courtney Yard then helped her own cause, lacing a two-RBI single and advancing to second base.  After registering an out, Courtney Melchionna joined the party with a two-RBI double of her own to double KU's lead to 4-0.  After Procopio issued a walk, Jill Martin then smoked another double, plating Melchionna to stake KU to a 5-0 lead.

That was all KU would end up needing for Yard, who gave up a CSI hit in every inning of the game, but never yielded a run until the game's sixth frame.  By then the Cougars added two more runs.  Yard picked up another RBI in fourth via a fielder's choice, plating Cegielski, and an inside-the-park solo homerun by Ciegalski gave KU a 7-0 lead in the sixth.  The hit for Ciegalski was her 65th of the season, an all-time Kean single season record.

The Dolphins broke up Yard's shutout in their turn of the sixth.  Junior Stefanie Solari opened the frame with a double, the first CSI extra-base hit of the game.  Solari then advanced to third on a Maxine Jasko ground ball, before coming home via a Christina Tufano ground-out.

For added measure, KU added an insurance marker in the seventh, and CSI answered shortly after with a pair of runs in their turn.  Samantha Tallerine opened with a double, and after pinch-runner Alex Florida advanced to third after a fly ball, she came to score on a Chyanne Gilliam ground-out, making it 8-2.  Brittany Smith then was able to get to first and advance to second on a Yard throwing error, and the speedy Smith came around to register on a Procopio single to right-center field.  Yard induced a ground-out by Solari, however, to end the threat.

Procopio took the loss, tossing seven innings, allowing eight runs (six earned) on twelve hits while walking two.  Yard scored the complete-game win, allowing three runs (two earned) on eight hits, fanning a pair.  Procopio led CSI with two hits, adding an RBI, while Schuh, Cegielski, Melchionna, and Martin all posted two hits for Kean.

The Dolphins finished the season with 24 wins, tied for fourth highest in single season history.  CSI's 410 hits this season are the highest all-time at the College, as are their 30 triples.