LORETTO, Pa. – The Saint Francis offense broke out with four first inning runs to bounce back after a Game 1 loss to earn a doubleheader split against Fairleigh Dickinson in Northeast Conference softball action on Sunday afternoon at the Red Flash Softball Field.
FDU pitcher Kirsten Shreve kept the SFU offense in check in Game 1, leading the Knights to a 3-1 win. However, the Red Flash offense exploded for four runs in the first inning of Game 2, and added three insurance runs in the bottom of the sixth to earn the split with a 7-3 victory.
Junior Jamie Dixon (Revloc, PA /Central Cambria ) (Revloc, Pa. / Central Cambria) went 3-for-3 in the second game, and had the big blow in the first inning when she hit her team-leading sixth home run of the season, a two-run blast to left-center field.
Fairleigh Dickinson had scored two runs off starting pitcher Laura Caldwell (Bellefonte, PA /Bellefonte) (Bellefonte, Pa. / Bellefonte) in the top of the first inning, but SFU senior Nicole Waligora (Johnstown, PA /Westmont Hilltop) (Johnstown, Pa. / Westmont Hilltop) got her team on the board with a two-out RBI double. Freshman Paige Smith (Saugus, Calif. / Valencia) followed with an RBI single, and Dixon put the Flash up 4-2 with her two-run blast.
The Knights added another run in the top of the second to pull within 4-3, but both pitchers settled down afterwards.
Saint Francis took advantage of a throwing error to score two runs in the bottom of the sixth, and sophomore Raquel Rugani (Montour, PA/Montour) (McKees Rocks, Pa. / Montour) added a sacrifice fly to give the Red Flash a 7-3 lead.
Caldwell earned the victory by giving up three runs, all unearned, on four hits while striking out 11 and walking just one in a complete game.
In Game 1, FDU scored one run in the fourth, and added one more in the fourth and sixth innings to take a 3-0 lead. SFU left eight runners on base, and had chances to cross the plate. The Red Flash had a runner thrown out at home in the first inning, and left runners in scoring position in the third, fifth, sixth and seventh inning.
Saint Francis woke up in the seventh inning when freshman Courtney Francis (Jefferson, Ohio / Jefferson Area) led off the frame with a single. Junior Stephanie Griffin (Dupont, PA /Pittston Area ) (Dupont, Pa. / Pittston Area) followed with a single and pinch-hitter Hilary McNelis (Tyrone, PA /Tyrone) (Tyrone, Pa. / Tyrone) drew a walk to load the bases with nobody out. However, Shreve got a strikeout and a sacrifice fly as all runners moved up to put the tying run at second base with two outs. However, FDU second baseman Brittany Sheppard made a terrific stop of a Kara Stroup (Valencia, PA /Mars) (Valencia, Pa. / Mars) grounder to prevent the runs from scoring.
Freshman Megan Layne (Vallejo, Calif. / Rodriguez) gave up three runs, two earned, on nine hits while striking out two and walking one in 5.1 innings of work. Francis and Griffin had two hits each for Saint Francis.
The Red Flash, who moved their record to 15-19 overall and 3-4 in the NEC, will return to action at 3 p.m. on Wednesday when they travel to Bucknell for a non-conference doubleheader.
