AMHERST, MA (5/14/04) - It was a historic day on the softball diamond for the Saint Joseph's softball team. Not only did the Hawks (21-27) advance to their first Atlantic 10 Championship in the program's 22-year history, SJU also snapped the nation's longest home winning streak with a 3-0 upset victory over host Massachusetts (33-13). Saint Joseph's scored three runs in the first inning and senior Dana Travis tossed a complete-game shutout to extend her streak of 39 straight innings without allowing an earned run.

The Minutewomen came into today's winner's bracket final with the nation's longest home winning streak at 73 straight games. The last time UMass lost on its home field was on April 30, 2000 with a 3-1 loss to Dayton. The hosts have dominated the Atlantic 10 over the past two decades, having won 14 consecutive regular season titles and nine straight tournament titles. Additionally, the Minutewomen came into the game having lost just one Atlantic 10 Tournament contest in the past ten years.

None of that mattered today for the Hawks, who had their only two hits in a three-run first inning off UMass starter Kelli Arnold, who tossed a no-hitter in yesterday's 1-0 win over Fordham. Junior Megan Richardson slapped a single and senior Lindsey McNamara ripped a single to left. Junior Alicia Cunic walked to bring sophomore Jill Clementi to the plate. She chopped a groundball to shortstop Hillary Puglia, whose throw home was high as Richardson slid home with what proved to be the winning run.

Junior Robin Berry walked in McNamara and freshman Rachel Pawlikowski's RBI-groundout to shortstop plated Cunic to give SJU a 3-0 lead. It was all that Travis needed to improve to 16-10 on the season. Despite running into a little bit of trouble in the late innings, Travis managed to toss the 26th shutout of her career to set a new program record. The senior co-captain scattered four hits and struck out three batters in the win.

Travis got out of trouble in the sixth as two straight walks put Minutewomen on first and second with no outs. Pinch-hitter Denise Denis then hit a screaming line-drive up the middle that was snared by Clementi at second, who proceeded to step on the bag for a double-play. After retiring the first two batters in the seventh, eight-hitter Kristi Stefanoni laced a double off the top of the fence in left and Aisha Franke reached on an error to bring up Puglia, the A-10 Player of the Year. Travis enticed Puglia into a popup to shortstop Cara Deldeo to end the game.

Saint Joseph's advances to tomorrow's Atlantic 10 Championship for the first time in its history and will face Temple, who SJU defeated 2-1 on Friday. The game will be broadcast live on sjuhawks.com and first pitch is set for 12 p.m.