ALFRED, NY – Sophomore pitcher of the Alfred University softball team, Megan Bennett (Athens, PA/Athens Area) joins an elite group of collegiate players as a statistical leader at the end of season within the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), following the 2022 season.
 
Bennett led the entire NCAA, through Division I, Division II and Division III in saves in a single season with eight. She led Division III by over two saves as pitchers from Wisconsin-Eau Claire (Lauren Gamme) and Susquehanna University (Katie Murphy) both had six on the year. One pitcher at the Division II level from Harding University (Abby Burch) had seven while four at the Division I level had seven as well, including pitchers from North Florida (Morgan Clausen), North Texas (Skylar Savage), UCLA (Megan Faraimo) and Northwestern (Danielle Williams).
 
"Megan was in a unique situation this year with having an injury and only being available to pitch two to three innings per day," Head Coach Luke Wesneski said. "She embraced this closer role and had ice in her veins. She came in and closed the door many times and this is not a normal role for her. But I am very proud that she was able to close the amount of games she did for us and she did it with a smile on her face."
 
Bennett is just the second Saxon to finish the season at the top of the NCAA Division III statistics rankings as Sophia Chiavatti '17 led the D3 institutions in doubles and doubles per game in 2015. She had 39 doubles and averaged 0.67 per game in the 2015 Empire 8 Champion and NCAA Division III Super Regional Champion season.
 
The lefty pitcher, Bennett, finished the 2022 campaign with a record of 7-5, adding all eight of her saves in the second half of the season. She started with the road win at Ithaca College on April 12, that started a six-game streak of earning saves. During that spree, she helped secure wins with her saves at Houghton College, versus Elmira College twice, at Keuka and versus Rochester institute of Technology once in the double-header sweep. Bennett closed out her saves with two more at the tail end of the regular season and once more in Empire 8 Championship play, defeating Russell Sage College in a road, double-header opener and against St. John Fisher College to advance to the championship day of play.
 
Bennett added to her strong season 107 strikeouts in 87.1 innings pitched. She led the Empire 8 in ERA with a 2.56. She finished seventh in the E8 for fewest hits allowed, giving up 75 while pitching double the innings more than three of the six pitchers ahead of her and the only pitcher to pitch more than 75 innings in the Top-10 of that category besides teammate, Arden Hatch (Orangevale, CA/St. Francis) at the No. 10 spot with 115.2 (giving up only 90 hits). Hatch led the Empire 8 in hits allowed per inning (0.78) while Bennett followed in second (0.86) as two of only three E8 pitchers to give up less than one hit per inning on the season.