BROOKLYN, N.Y. (Apr. 7, 2008) – Senior Nicole Bender (Patton, Pa. / Cambria Heights) and junior Kelly Slingwine (Gibsonia, Pa. / Pine Richland) each had solo home runs, but it wasn't enough as the Saint Francis softball team dropped both ends of a doubleheader at perennial Northeast Conference power Long Island on Monday.

The Blackbirds used a pair of five run innings to defeat the Red Flash 10-0 in five innings in Game 1, and then SFU fell 4-2 in Game 2 despite the fifth and third homers of the season by Bender and Slingwine, respectively.

Saint Francis will try to bounce back from these two losses when it hosts Akron on Thursday at Red Flash Softball Field.

Long Island had 11 hits, all singles, and stole three bases in Game 1. The Blackbirds scored five runs in the third inning and five more in the fourth. SFU junior Nicole Waligora (Johnstown, Pa. / Westmont Hilltop) had the only extra base hit of the game, a double.

With LIU having surrendered just one run in its past eight games, Bender started Game 2 with a solo home run to left-center field to give the Red Flash a 1-0 lead. However, the Blackbirds scored two runs in the second inning and two more in the fifth to take a 4-1 lead. Slingwine hit a two-out opposite field homer in the seventh to pull SFU within 4-2.