FLUSHING, N.Y. – With the 2023 season regular season concluded, the Queens College softball team is headed to East Coast Conference postseason play for the first time since the 2015 season.
Head coach
Amy Delmore and the Knights are back in postseason play for the first time since the Knights earned their third title in program history and first under Delmore during the 2015 season.
In 2015, the Knights lifted the championship crown on their home ground as they earned #1 seed and hosted the ECC Tournament and were victorious in three straight games to lift their first title since the 2001 season.
Fast forward to the 2023 season, Delmore and the Knights have ended their six-season drought and have earned the #4 seed and will match up against the #1 seed and host Molloy University Lions who have earned the hosting right and go into the tournament as Co-Regular Season Champions.
Queens finished the regular season with an overall record of 10-32 and 7-13 in conference play to earn the #4 seed. Despite the unfavorable results, the Knights battled throughout the regular season which saw them drop at least 18 games by three runs or less with four of those losses coming in the extra innings, including a 10-inning loss to the host Lions on Thursday (Apr. 27) afternoon.
Leading the Way
The Knights will be led by graduate student
Allyson Dilday (Castle Rock, Co.) who has starred with her experience with a team-high seven wins in the circle, 18 complete games
(most in ECC), two shutouts
(2nd in ECC), 105 strikeouts
(2nd in ECC) with 131.0 innings pitched in 20 starts.
The Castle Rock native has fired two shutouts in the season leading the Knights in the victories over CSI on both occasions. On the season, Dilday tallied a season-high 12 strikeouts in the victory over CSI on Apr. 18 and has recorded nine strikeouts on four separate occasions.
On the season, Dilday was awarded ECC Pitcher of the Week on Apr. 3 and earned two Honor Roll spots.
While the offense will rely on senior
Ann Grimshaw (New Hyde Park, N.Y.) to pave the way as the New Hyde Park native has played all 42 games, earning 41 starts as she holds a batting average of .296 with a team-high 40 hits, nine doubles, one home run, and 15 RBI.
The senior is ranked #2 in the nation as one of the toughest batters to strikeout having been struckout only twice on the season with the last strikeout coming on March 23 against Goldey-Beacom.
Grimshaw has tallied nine multi-hit games on the game
(tied for first on the team), three multi-RBI games
(first on the team), held a 20-game hitting streak, and a 21-game reached base on the season.
On the season Grimshaw earned three ECC Honor Roll spots.
While junior
Dyana Budakowski (Washingtonville, N.Y.) is batting .260 having played and started 41 games with 32 hits, one double, one triple, one home run, and tied for second with eight RBI, seven stolen bases, and team-high 16 runs scored.
Sophomore
Amanda Baez (Selden, N.Y.) is batting .300 having appeared in 36 games with 35 starts, and has tallied 27 hits, seven doubles
(second on the team), with eight runs scored, eight RBI, and a team-high 12 stolen bases.
#1 Seed Molloy University Lions
Molloy University Lions earned the #1 seed finishing the regular season with an overall record of 29-19 and 15-5 in conference play and are the Co-Regular Season Champions.
During the regular season, the Knights went 1-3 against the Lions having dropped two games in Rockville Centre before earning a Senior Day split in Flushing. In the game one loss in Flushing, it would take 10 innings as the Lions scored the winning runs in the top of the 10
th before Budakowski pitched four innings in relief to shut down the Lions offense as Queens earned a game two 3-2 victory.
The Lions will be the first opponent Queens faces in the opening round of the tournament as postseason play gets underway Wednesday (May 3) afternoon.
#2 Seed Saint Thomas Aquinas College
On the other side of the bracket, Saint Thomas Aquinas College Spartans finished the regular season with an overall record of 28-16 and 15-5 in conference play and have earned Co-Regular Season Champions honors with Molloy.
The Spartans will be the #2 seed in the tournament and will host game two of the opening round on Wednesday afternoon.
During the season, the Knights were swept by the Spartans 4-0 but would battle in three games as they fell b three runs or less with two losses coming down to the score of 3-1 and 4-3 on Monday (May 1) evening.
#3 Seed Mercy College
The Mercy College Mavericks finished the regular season with an overall record of 15-29 and 10-10 in conference play and have earned the #3 seed in the tournament.
During the regular season, the Knights fell 3-1 in the series as Queens earned a doubleheader split in Flushing before falling short in Dobbs Ferry as the Knights left a combined 29 base runners stranded in the three losses.
The Mavericks will match up against #2 seed Spartans in Sparkill in the opening round before attention shifts to Rockville Centre on Friday (May 5) and Saturday (May 6) for the final two days to crown the 2023 ECC Champions. The winner of the tournament will earn the Automatic bid to the 2023 NCAA Softball Tournament.
2023 East Coast Conference Softball Championship Schedule
Wednesday, May 3 at highest seeds
Game One: No. 4 Queens at. No. 1 Molloy – 3:00 p.m.
Game Two: No. 3 Mercy vs. No. 2 St. Thomas Aquinas – 3:30 p.m.
Friday, May 5 at Molloy
Game Three: Game One winner vs. Game Two winner - 10:00 a.m.
Game Four: Game One loser vs. Game Two loser - 12:30 p.m.
Game Five: Game Three loser vs. Game Four winner - 3:00 p.m.
Saturday, May 6 at Molloy
Game Six: Game Three winner vs. Game Five winner -12:00 p.m.
Game Seven: if necessary - 30 minutes after completion of Game Six
Live Stats
https://molloylions.com/sidearmstats/softball/summary
Watch Live (ECC Network website)
All games during the championship will be broadcast live on the
ECC Network website and the ECC Network app on Apple and Android mobile devices and on Amazon Fire TV, Android TV, Apple TV, and Roku streaming devices. To read Twitter updates throughout the tournament, follow
@ECCSports. To see highlights during the games on Friday and Saturday, follow
@ECCSportsNet on Twitter. Tournament recaps, live stats, box scores, and all other pertinent tournament information will be available at the championship central website (link below).
For the latest news on Queens College Athletics, follow the Knights at
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