The Game: No. 5 Towson Tigers (26-23, 14-10 CAA) vs. No. 8 North Carolina A&T Aggies (17-33, 10-14 CAA)
Where: Bill Edwards Stadium – Hempstead, N.Y.
When: Tuesday, May 9 – 12:00 p.m.
Broadcast: Live stream on FloSoftball, live stats at TowsonTigers.com

TOWSON, Md. – Towson softball will return to the CAA Softball Championships for the first time since the 2019 campaign as the five seed. The Tigers are coming off a 6-0 win against Coppin State to close out the regular season that saw Maddie Gardner toss a no-hitter. It was the first no-hitter for the Tigers since 2014.

Gardner was just one walk away from a perfect game that saw her strike out six batters. Cori Jones drove in the game winning run with an RBI single in the fourth. Mackenzie Lake led the Tigers with three RBIs on a double and a triple.

Towson and North Carolina A&T met just a few weeks ago in Towson where the Tigers earned a three-game sweep of the Aggies. The Tigers now lead the all-time series 6-1 in seven total meetings.

TOWSON IN THE CAA TOURNAMENT:
The Tigers will be making their 15^th appearance in the CAA Tournament and have advanced to the championship game six times, looking for their first tournament title. All-time the Tigers are 16-28 but made the championship game in 2002, 2003, 2005, 2009, 2014, and 2016.

TIGERS HONORED:
Five different Tigers have earned CAA weekly awards so far in the 2023 season. Maddie Gardner was named pitcher of the week back on February 21 while Addie Ferguson was named rookie of the week the following week. Most recently, Madyson Peters was named player of the week on March 20 after leading Towson to their first CAA series sweep since 2019. Peters earned her second player of the week award on April 3 after leading the Tigers to another series sweep of Drexel.

Most recently Cori Jones and Kristin Toland earned CAA Player and Rookie of the Week honors on April 17 after leading the Tigers to a 4-0 week that included a sweep of North Carolina A&T. Maddie Gardner earned her second pitcher of the week honors after tossing a no-hitter against Coppin State.

COSTELLO SETS RECORD:
Towson head coach Lisa Costello broke her record for conference wins in a single season with the Tigers 5-3 victory against Stony Brook. Towson finished the conference season at 14-10, the most wins in a single season in the CAA for Costello. The previous mark was 13 wins in the CAA, as Costello has had 14 wins twice while the Tigers were members of the America East.

NEWCOMERS:
Towson will have 10 newcomers suit up in the Black and Gold for the 2023 season. Eight of the ten newcomers are freshman who will be making their collegiate debuts, joining a pair of DI transfers in Erin Brown (Thousand Oak, Calif./La Reina/St. John's) and Maddie Gardner (Sun Prairie, Wisc./Sun Prairie/South Florida).

Brown comes to Towson from St. John's University where she made 46 appearances in the circle with 25 starts throwing 173.2 innings. She amassed an 11-20 record with nine complete games, three shutouts and two saves. Her best season came during the Covid shortened 2020 campaign, going 5-6 with a 2.95 ERA in 61.2 innings.

Gardner made six appearances in two seasons for USF in the circle. She sported a 1-0 record in five appearances in 2021, picking up a victory against Florida Atlantic in 2.0 innings of relief.

Alyssa Myint, Nadia Martyniuk, Cheyenne Beayon, Isabella Canesi, Cara Bohner, Addie Ferguson, Kellie Zoerb and Grace Franczyk will also suit up for the Tigers in 2023.

NEW LOOK PITCHING STAFF:
Towson returns just two pitchers who saw action in the 2022 season in Paige Kostick and Sydni Byers. Kostick saw action in seven games with four starts, tossing 28.1 innings with 11 strikeouts. Byers appeared in five games out of the bullpen. Also returning for the Tigers will be Morgan Wagner who missed the 2022 season due to an injury.

Three newcomers will join the pitching staff in freshman Cheyenne Beayon and transfers Erin Brown and Maddie Gardner. Beayon comes to Towson from Mount De Sales with Brown and Gardner transferring from St. John's University and University of South Florida. Brown made 46 career appearances for the Red Storm with nine complete games. Gardner made six appearances in her two seasons with the Bulls.

OFFENSIVE DEPTH:
The Tigers return four of their top five hitters from 2022, including offensive leader Briana Ramirez. Ramirez led Towson with a .379 batting average and a .434 slugging percentage a year ago. Ramirez finished second in the CAA in batting and will enter 2023 as the top returning hitter from a year ago while also finishing third in hits with 55 in 2022.

Mackenzie Lake, Sydni Byers, and Madyson Peters also return to help a Towson offense that hit .252 from the plate in 2022. Lake finished the year with a .303 batting average, leading the team with seven doubles and five home runs. Byers hit .256 tying Lake with seven doubles and team-best 25 RBIs. Peters went .245 from the dish with 27 hits and six doubles.