BALTIMORE, Md. – Freshman Megan Layne (Vallejo, Calif. / Rodriquez) tied a school record with 13 strikeouts and plated the winning run with a walk-off single in the eighth inning to lead the Saint Francis softball team to a 3-2 victory over Binghamton in a Saturday morning game at the UMBC Spring Classic.
The Red Flash then used a six-run first inning to hand Siena an 11-5 loss later in the day.
SFU improved to 12-14 with the two wins, and will conclude play at the UMBC Spring Classic with a 1:45 p.m. game on Sunday, against Robert Morris. The game will not count in the Northeast Conference standings.
Saint Francis 3, Binghamton 2
Layne gave up a one-out single, and then surrendered back-to-back two-out walks to load the bases in the first inning. Meghan Tucker gave the Bearcats a 1-0 lead with a single, but Layne escaped further damage in the inning.
Junior Jamie Dixon (Revloc, PA /Central Cambria ) (Revloc, Pa. / Central Cambria) slugged her team-leading fifth home run of the season to tie the game in the third inning.
The teams remained locked at 1-1 until Binghamton's turn to bat in the top of the eighth inning, when a runner was placed on second for international tie-breaker rules in extra innings.
Sandy Meadows was placed on second for the Bearcats, advanced to third on a wild pitch, and then scored on a two-out fielding error for a 2-1 BU lead.
However, SFU answered in the bottom half of the eighth inning. Junior Christina Aulbach (York, PA /Dallastown Area) (York, Pa. / Dallastown Area) started the inning on second base, and scored on a double by junior Kelly Cortese (Coatesville, PA/Bishop Shanahan) (Coatesville, Pa. / Bishop Shanahan) to tie the game at 2-2. Layne ended the game with a single for a 3-2 Red Flash win.
Layne tied teammate Laura Caldwell (Bellefonte, PA /Bellefonte) (Bellefonte, Pa. / Bellefonte) for the single-game school record for 13 strikeouts. She gave up two runs (one earned) on just three hits while walking four in 8.0 innings. Freshman Paige Smith (Saugus, Calif. / Valencia) was 2-for-4 in the game, and Cortese was 3-for-4.
Saint Francis 11, Siena 5
Sophomore Raquel Rugani (Montour, PA/Montour) (McKees Rocks, Pa. / Montour) went 3-for-4 with two RBI, Smith went 2-for-4 with two RBI, and senior Kara Stroup (Valencia, PA /Mars) (Valencia, Pa. / Mars) hit a two-run homer to lead the Red Flash to an 11-5 victory over Siena in the second game of the day.
Senior Kelly Slingwine (Gibsonia, PA /Pine Richland) (Gibsonia, Pa. / Pine Richland) kick-started the offense with an RBI triple in the first inning. Rugani had an RBI single, Smith added an RBI single, senior Hilary McNelis (Tyrone, PA /Tyrone) (Tyrone, Pa. / Tyrone) drew a bases loaded walk, senior Janelle McCoy (New Paris, PA /Chestnut Ridge) (New Paris, Pa. / Chestnut Ridge) had a sacrifice fly, and then Smith scored on a double steal to help SFU to a six-run first inning.
Siena tallied two runs in the next half inning, but the Red Flash answered with two runs in the bottom of the third inning. Smith had another RBI single, and freshman Courtney Francis (Jefferson, Ohio / Jefferson Area) scored on a throwing error.
Stroup hit her two-run bomb in the fifth inning, and Rugani added an RBI double in the sixth inning to end the scoring for Saint Francis.
Caldwell picked up the win in giving up five runs (four earned) on five hits in 7.0 innings. She struck out seven and walked just one.
