GAME RESULTS
No. 2 Saint Louis 3, No. 5 Saint Joseph's 2
No. 2 Saint Louis 1, No. 1 Dayton 0 (10 innings)
Atlantic 10 Championship Elimination Round
Friday, May 9, 2025
Washington, D.C. (GW Softball Field)
 
THE BASICS
Karsen Jany's 10th-inning solo home run backed the stellar pitching of Isabel Royle as No. 2 seed Saint Louis defeated No. 1 seed Dayton 1-0 Friday in an Atlantic 10 Conference Championship elimination game.
 
Saint Louis (32-22) advances to the A-10 Championship final round for a second consecutive season. The Billikens must defeat No. 3 seed Fordham twice to win the title and earn the league's NCAA Championship bid. Fordham edged the Bills 6-5 in second-round action Thursday.
 
Royle posted a career-high and team season-high 12 strikeouts while allowing only two hits and four walks.
 
In SLU's first elimination game of the day, Taylor Hochman fired a five-hitter to lead the Billikens to a 3-2 victory over No. 5 seed Saint Joseph's.
 
The Bills' 32 victories are the second most in program history.
 
GAME 1 – HOW IT HAPPENED
•Saint Joseph's scored two runs on three hits in the top of the first inning. The three hits were the last for the Hawks until the seventh.
•Saint Louis scored all its runs in the third. Allie Marietta led off with a walk and was forced at second on Jany's fielder's choice. Natalie Sullivan's single moved Jany to third, and Sullivan's steal put runners at second and third. Abby Ulsas scored Jany with a sacrifice fly, Abby Mallo's triple brought home Sullivan, and Jane Kaniecki's single drove in Mallo with what proved to be the winning run.
•A pair of seventh-inning singles gave Saint Joseph's a chance with one out, but Hochman induced a flyout and a groundout to clinch the win.
 
GAME 1 – BILLIKEN NOTABLES
•Hochman improved to 16-7 and set a career high for wins. She struck out five.
•Sullivan added a triple for a two-hit game, stole two bases and registered her 132nd career walk, breaking Alex Nickel's Saint Louis record. She set a second Billiken career mark with her 212th consecutive start, surpassing Kristin Nicoletti.
•Kendall Johnson collected a single.
 
GAME 2 – HOW IT HAPPENED
•Neither team had a hit until a single in the Dayton third.
•Marietta broke up the Flyers' no-hit bid with a seventh-inning single. That placed runners at first and third, but the rally ended there.
•Dayton advanced a runner to third with two away in the eighth but couldn't score.
•Jany's homer, her third of the season, came with one out and easily cleared the wall in right-center.
•Royle retired the side in order in the 10th to send the Billikens to Saturday.
 
GAME 2 – BILLIKEN NOTABLES
•Royle notched her 11th win of the season.
•Sullivan singled for her third hit of the day.