#1 LIU Brooklyn | #2 Saint Francis | #3 Robert Morris | #4 Bryant

Musket Shots

- Robert Morris qualified for the Northeast Conference Tournament for the eighth time in nine seasons with a strong finish to the regular season. The Colonials won seven of their final 10 games, all in league action, to conclude NEC play with a 10-6 mark. In each of the last eight years that RMU has made the tournament, it has reached double digits in conference victories.
 

- Robert Morris is one of just a handful of teams in Division I to sport three freshmen pitchers this year. Unlike some of its counterparts with three rookies that also have a non-freshman stabilizing the staff, RMU's rookies have thrown 99.4% of the team's innings this year. Each member of the trio has started at least 13 games and entered in relief in at least 12 contests. It marks the first time in Coach Coleman's 26-year tenure that he has had three freshmen pitchers in the same season.

- RMU secured one of the more memorable wins in program history on March 11 of this season as the Colonials stunned #17 Minnesota by a 4-1 margin. The Colonials collected nine hits in the win while Kaitlin Ellzy spun a one-hitter against the Golden Gophers and did not yield an earned run. One day earlier, Robert Morris took down Florida Atlantic, a team currently ranked 22nd nationally that sports a 47-7 record. Ellzy threw a three-hitter in that game and allowed one unearned run.

- Junior Jordan Gurganus is poised to lead Robert Morris in hitting for a second straight season. With a strong tournament, she has a chance to join an even more impressive list. If Gurganus, who is currently batting .351, can finish the year hitting at least .350, she will become just the fifth Colonial to hit at least .350 in back-to-back seasons.

- Robert Morris has shown a flair for the dramatic at times this season, and senior Lauren Hackett is often in the center of it. RMU has four walk-off wins in its past 35 games, three of which came in the eighth inning. The Colonials trailed in three of the four walk-off wins and twice tied games in the bottom of the seventh with two outs. Hackett had a walk-off single in a win over Monmouth and blasted a three-run, walk-off home run in a win over Kent State. The veteran also scored the winning run in a walk-off victory over Rutgers.

- Junior Stacey Capp enters the Northeast Conference Tournament riding one of the finest stretches of her career. She has 12 hits in her last 20 at bats, including four doubles and a home run. She has walked twice, tallied eight RBI and scored four runs in this span. Capp leads the team with 11 doubles on the year.

- Sophomore Olivia Lorusso owns perhaps RMU's finest offensive performance of the season. The third baseman tied school records for hits and RBI in the nightcap of a twinbill against Kent State. Lorusso was 4-for-4 with a home run, a double and seven RBI in the contest, as she became only the second Colonial ever to notch seven RBI in a game. Her homer was a three-run blast in the sixth inning that came with RMU trailing by two runs.

- Part of Robert Morris' success this season is due to the team's play in tight contests. RMU enters the NEC Tournament with an 8-4 record in one-run games, which would represent the team's best winning percentage in such contests since it went 9-2 in 2009. The Colonials went 4-1 in one-run games within conference play and have won five of their past six such games overall. RMU did not play a one-run game in its first 13 affairs of the season, so each of its 12 one-run decisions has come within the past 38 games.

- Senior Haileigh Stocks had the finest outings against league opposition of her career in her final trip around the league. She hit a team-leading and career best .367 in NEC games with nine of her 18 hits going for extra bases. She leads the team in home runs (6), RBI (14) and slugging percentage (.796) in league play. Four of her six homers in league play gave RMU the lead when it did not previously have it and another pulled RMU even when it had been trailing by two runs.

- The duo of Stacey Capp and Olivia Lorusso make up the left side of RMU's infield, and it will likely soon take up the top two spots in a single-season school record. Both Capp and Lorusso tied the program's record for single-season assists in the regular-season finale this past Sunday. Each enters the tournament with 121 assists on the year.

- In addition to downing nationally-ranked Minnesota, Robert Morris picked up wins this year against Penn State and Rutgers as well. In doing so, RMU beat three Big Ten teams in a season for the first time in program history. Kaitlin Ellzy went the distance in each game and allowed a combined two earned runs in the three outings. The Colonials did not trail in any point in those three contests and were not outhit in any of the three games.

- Jordan Gurganus registered her 60th hit of the season in RMU's regular-season finale against Fairleigh Dickinson. That made her just the second Colonial ever to post at least 60 hits in multiple seasons. In fact, Gurganus recently cracked RMU's top 10 list for career hits in just her third collegiate season. She enters the NEC Tournament ranked ninth all-time at RMU with 170 hits.

- According to the NCAA's strength of schedule ratings, Robert Morris' non-conference schedule was the toughest in the NEC and in the top quartet in all of Division I. RMU collected five wins against teams ranked among the top 100 in the RPI while the rest of the NEC combined for six.

- Robert Morris softball isn't all about winning on the field, as the Colonial program has displayed excellence in the classroom as well. In six of the past seven years, RMU has posted one of the top four team grade point averages among all Division I softball programs. In fact, in 2008-09, 2009-10 and 2011-12, RMU led all Division I in team GPA with a mark of at least 3.55 in each year.

- Senior Ashley Gerhart had posted strong efforts in league play in each of the past three seasons, and her senior year certainly did end the trend. Gerhart has a .400 on-base percentage and a .630 slugging mark against NEC opposition this year. For her career, she owns a .382 batting average in league play and a .628 slugging mark. Her SLG% in conference play is the best by a Colonial who completed her career within the past decade.

- While a number of Colonials hail from western Pennsylvania, freshman Laura Coulter is a little bit further from home. Coulter's hometown of Banora Point, Australia is 9,316 miles away from RMU's campus. The rookie was selected to represent Team Australia at both the U-17 and U-19 levels. She helped her state of Queensland to its first U-19 national title in 12 years while posting a 0.83 ERA in the event. Coulter concluded her first collegiate season with a 3.08 ERA in conference action.

- As senior Kristen Gabelt's career comes to a close, her power output has ramped up. The outfielder has homered seven times in the team's past 24 games and five times in the last 12 games. For the second straight season, Gabelt hit at least .340 in conference play with a slugging percentage of at least .700. For her career, Gabelt has more walks (15) than strikeouts (14) within conference play.

- Freshmen Kaitlin Ellzy and Laura Coulter were both honored in the NEC's Pitcher of the Week category during the 2016 season. This marked the first time in program history in which more than one Colonial was honored in the pitching category within the same season. However, it is the ninth consecutive season in which at least one Colonial has been recognized in this category, the longest active streak in the conference. When senior Lauren Hackett was honored in the Player of the Week category in early April, it also marked the ninth consecutive season in which a Colonial claimed an award in that category, also the longest active streak in the league.

- Senior Lauren Hackett not only tops the team in sacrifices with 10 but leads the league entering the NEC Tournament … Junior Jordan Gurganus finished the regular season as the third toughest player to strike out in the Northeast Conference, going down just once every 17.1 at bats. She is the toughest to strike out among the four teams in this year's tournament … Senior Ashley Gerhart and sophomore Olivia Lorusso have started every game this season at center field and third base, respectively. They are vying to become the first set of RMU teammates to start every game of a season at the same position since 2009.