GLENSIDE, Pa. – The top-seeded Arcadia University softball team scored nine runs in the bottom of the first and never looked back as it recorded an 11-3 win over second-seeded Stockton Sunday at Blankley Field to win its second straight Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Division III Championship. The Knights have now won an ECAC title in two of their three all-time tournament appearances.
 
FOR THE RECORD: Arcadia ends the 2017 campaign with an overall record of 30-13, marking the program's fourth 30-win season and its first 30-win year since going 31-10 in 2007. The program record for wins was set by the 2006 team that went 34-9. Stockton ends the year with a record of 26-21-1.
 
GOOD NAMED MVP: Freshman Bekah Good was named the ECAC Division III Softball Championship Tournament's Most Valuable Player after going 1 for 3 with a home run, four RBIs and a run scored over the Knights' two games played in the tournament. She drove in the game-winning run in both games Sunday, first on a pinch-hit sacrifice fly in the bottom of the 10th to beat fourth-seeded NYU before hitting a three-run homer that put Arcadia up 5-0 in the first against Stockton.
 
IN THE CIRCLE: Freshman Mary Pat Murray went the distance, improving her record to 12-4 after allowing three runs on five hits. Hannah Bibeault took the loss for the Ospreys after giving up six runs on six hits and two walks in just two-thirds of an inning, while Victoria Torp gave up five runs on eight hits in 1.1 innings of relief work.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED: Arcadia loaded the bases with one out in the bottom of the first as sophomore Jackie Bilotti singled up the middle and junior Amanda Hess drew a walk to lead off the inning before freshman Julia Gessner singled to fill the bases. Bilotti and Hess then crossed the plate on freshman Tori Zangrilli's single to right before Good launched a three-run homer with two away to put the Knights up 5-0. The Scarlet and Grey batted around in the inning, which saw Bilotti drive in a run with her single to left and an RBI-double for Hess before Murray drove in two runs with her single to right that extended Arcadia's lead to 9-0.
 
Bilotti pushed two more runs across with her double down the left field line in the second before Stockton finally got on the board with a run in the top of the third. Danielle Lugo drove in Alexandra Cosenzo with a single to left that inning to break up the shutout bid, and the Ospreys tacked on two more in the top of the fifth for the 11-3 final.  
 
ARCADIA AT BAT: Bilotti went 4 for 4 from the leadoff spot in the order with one double, one triple, three RBIs and two runs scored, while Hess finished the game 2 for 3 with a double, two runs scored and another driven in. Zangrilli went 1 for 3 with two RBIs and a run scored, while sophomore Kayla Resh was 1 for 2 with a walk and two runs scored.
 
STOCKTON AT BAT: The Ospreys had just five hits in the game. Cosenzo was 1 for 3 with a triple, and RBI and a run scored, while Lugo finished 1 for 2 with an RBI. Holly Arentowicz was 1 for 2 with a run scored.

2017 ECAC DIII Softball All-Tournament Team
P – Mary Pat Murray, Arcadia
OF – Tori Zangrilli, Arcadia
OF – Kelsey Bristol, Penn State Altoona
OF – Carlie Shaw, Stockton
INF – Jackie Bilotti, Arcadia
INF – Bekah Good, Arcadia
INF – Ashley Lobell, Stockton
INF – Alex Cosenzo, Stockton
C – Jacqueline Finn, NYU