WILKES-BARRE, PA (May 6, 2022) -- In the final game of the thrilling opening day of the 2022 MAC Freedom Softball Championships, the #3 seeded King's College softball team led the #5 seeded FDU-Florham 9-4 after four innings. The game was called due to darkness with plans to resume the game on Saturday morning, but the weekend weather forecast has derailed those plans.

With the predicted forecast for the weekend, the MAC office has announced that the championship format will shift to a single-elimination tournament with the final game set for Sunday, May 8 at 1:00 p.m. at Betzler Fields in Wilkes-Barre, Pa. The remaining undefeated teams in the #4 seeded Stevens Institute of Technology and the #2 seeded Arcadia University after the first day of contests will go head-to-head in a winner-take-all championship game on Sunday afternoon.

King's will earn the 9-4 win in four innings over FDU-Florham in last night's contest. The Monarchs will finish their season 21-12 overall, while the Devils fall to 12-16.

The Monarchs defense made quick work of the Devils in the top of the first. After the leadoff hitter reached on a walk, King's (21-12) executed their bunt defense and threw out the Devil's base runner heading to third. Sophomore Brandi McIntosh then struck out the third batter of the inning to set up the offense.

Sophomore Kiersten Krouse hit a hard single back to the pitcher and worked her way around to score off a throwing error on a sacrifice bunt from senior Lindsey Leppo. Junior Bailey Loyack hit a one-out double to left field and advanced to third on a single from first year Harley Sullivan. Junior Gabrielle Visconti worked a one-out walk to load the bases to set up a sacrifice fly from sophomore Molly Gillette. A fielding error allowed one more Monarch runner to cross the plate as King's led 3-0 after one inning of play.

FDU-Florham got a run back in the top of the second thanks to some heads-up base running, but the Monarchs responded in the bottom of the inning as they plated four runs on seven hits. Seven different Monarchs stepped up and recorded a single as they pushed four more runs across the plate to push their lead to 7-1.

The Devils then made a comeback effort in the fourth as they scored three runs thanks to a three-run home run from Morgan Deloreto, but just as they had all game the King's offense had a response. Two Devils errors and a single from Gillette load the bases with one out. Krouse then delivered a two-RBI single to right field as King's increased their lead to 9-4 as the game was halted due to darkness.

Krouse led King's as she went 3-for-4 with two runs and two RBIs with two stolen bases. Loyack and Gillette both posted 2-for-2 efforts with Loyack adding two runs, while Sullivan added two hits as part of the 13-hit effort. McIntosh earned the win in the shortened game in 3.2 innings of work, giving up three earned runs on three hits while striking out two.

Three different Devils recorded a hit in the loss, while Deloreto drove in all three runs. Ciara Hoffman picked up the loss in all 4.0 innings, giving up six earned runs on 13 hits.