LORETTO, Pa. (Mar. 28, 2010) – Sophomore Courtney Francis (Jefferson, Ohio/Jefferson Area) (Jefferson, Ohio / Jefferson Area) drove in five runs and senior Christina Aulbach (York, PA /Dallastown Area) (York, Pa. / Dallastown Area) reached base four times and scored three runs to lead the Saint Francis softball team to a 9-3 victory over Fairleigh Dickinson in Game 1 of a doubleheader on Sunday at the Red Flash Softball Field.

However, the Knights took advantage of four SFU errors and used a six-run sixth inning to defeat the Red Flash, 12-5, in a rain-shortened Game 2.

Saint Francis moved its record to 9-18 on the season, and 1-3 in the Northeast Conference. The Red Flash will return to action with a non-conference tilt at 2 p.m. on Tuesday at Pittsburgh.

Francis had one of the best games of her young career with a 3-for-4 effort at the plate in Game 1. She had a pair of two-run doubles in the first and third innings, respectively, and added an RBI single later in the game. Aulbach reached base in all four of her at-bats. She was hit by a pitch in her first two plate appearances, then walked and had a single later in the game. She scored three runs, as did junior Raquel Rugani (Montour, PA/Montour) (McKees Rocks, Pa. / Montour), who was 2-for-3 with a walk and an RBI. Freshman Taylor Darneille (Fircrest, Wash. / Wilson) also collected two hits, including a double, and scored a run.

Sophomore Megan Layne (Vallejo, Calif./Rodriguez) (Vallejo, Calif. / Rodriguez) picked up her seventh win of the season by giving up just three runs on six hits in a complete game. She walked seven and struck out three.

Fairleigh Dickinson scored four runs, only one earned, in the first two innings of Game 2 to jump out to an early lead. SFU manufactured a run to make it 4-1 in the fourth inning. But the Knights answered with two runs in the fifth inning, and scored six in the sixth to take a 12-1 lead.

Saint Francis mounted a comeback attempt in the bottom half of the inning, beginning with the first career home run for Francis, a two-run shot, to cut it to 12-3. Sophomore Katie McMellen (Kingsville, OH /Edgewood) (Kingsville, Ohio / Edgewood) scored later in the inning on a wild pitch, and Darneille plated another run with a single to make it 12-5. But the Red Flash stranded runners on second and third with the last out of the inning being recorded on a pop out. The game was then called because of a steady rain that had started falling in the third inning.

McMellen was 3-for-3 with a run scored, while Aulbach, Darneille and Rugani had two hits each.

On the day, Francis was 4-for-7 with two doubles, a homer, and seven RBIs, McMellen was 4-for-5 with a walk and two stolen bases, Aulbach went 3-for-4 with four runs scored, and Rugani was 4-for-6 with three runs scored.