GARDEN CITY, N.Y. – In the first game of the 2022 NCAA East Regional, the Pace University softball team tallied a 6-0 win over top-seeded Adelphi on Thursday afternoon. The eighth-seeded Setters will now face fourth-seeded Caldwell University on Friday morning.
Pace's first-ever NCAA win featured a terrific all-around effort. A complete-game gem from freshman
Gisselle Garcia (Lemon Grove, Calif. /Mater Dei Catholic) was aided by six runs on 10 hits.
Garcia allowed just four hits en route to picking up her ninth shutout of the season. The right-hander is now 16-8 with an ERA of 1.35 across 170.2 innings.
Senior
Brittany Walkingstick (Peculiar, Mo./Desert Ridge / Mesa Community College) assisted in each of Pace's first two runs. She first knocked an RBI single in the second inning to give Pace a 1-0 edge.
Walkingstick singled again in the fourth inning where an Adelphi error in right field allowed
Gwen Pederson (Sylmar, Calif./Granada Hills Charter) to score from second base.
Pace broke the game open in the sixth. After loading the bases with a double, single and a walk, sophomore
Jenny Gordon (Colonia, N.J./John F. Kennedy Memorial) hammered a triple down the right-field line to give the Setters a 5-0 edge.
Gordon would then score Pace's final run courtesy of a
Carolina Iturriaga (North Hills, Calif./Grover Cleveland) RBI single.
Pederson and Walkingstick each led the Setters with 2-for-4 efforts while eight different Pace players recorded a hit in the win.
Up Next
Pace enters the winner's side of the bracket with an upcoming matchup against fourth-seeded Caldwell on Friday morning (10 a.m.).
