Game One Box Score
Game Two Box Score

LORETTO, Pa. (April 17, 2012) – Behind 17 hits and 15 runs the Saint Francis University softball team took two from visiting Bucknell in non-conference action Tuesday afternoon at Red Flash Field. SFU opened with a 6-0 shutout and concluded the day with a 9-1 victory in six innings.

In game one the Red Flash (19-21) took it to the Bison (6-31) early on, putting up a four spot in the bottom of the first. Paige Smith (Saugus, Calif./Valencia) kicked the inning off with a long double to the center field fence and scored the first run of the game off of a RBI-single up the middle by Davina Kachnovitz. After Taylor Darneille (Fircrest, Wash./Wilson) reached base, Chelsea Rex launched her third homerun of the season with two outs to put the Flash up 4-0.

In the third Saint Francis tacked on another run. It was all right center that did it for SFU in that bottom frame as Karlie Miller (Wildomar, Calif./Temescal Canyon) and Rex reached on back-to-back singles to the right center gap. Kaitlin Andler (Evanston, Ill./Evanston) then stepped to the plate and placed a double into right center that plated Miller from second. Bucknell collected a couple of hits from there on until the Flash got its final run in the fifth. Miller lined her first homerun of the season, a solo shot, out to right field that gave SFU its sixth run.

Brooke Koch (Jersey Shore, Pa./Jersey Shore) picked up her second shutout win of the season and eighth pitching victory overall. Koch threw all seven innings of four-hit ball and struck out a season-high eight batters while surrendering just one walk. Rex went a perfect 3-for-3 with three RBI in the first game.

Just like the opening contest, the Flash jumped ahead early, this time scoring six runs in the bottom of the first. To start,
Smith roped the team's first triple of the season down the right field line. Taylor Parsons drew a one-out walk and managed to swipe second to give SFU two runners in scoring position. A base knock to right center by Darneille plated both Smith and Parsons as Saint Francis went ahead quickly 2-0.

Two additional runs were brought home off the bat of Andler when she blooped a single into right field. As was the trend of the inning, a double from Brianna Garcia (Riverside, Calif./Arlington) sent two more runners in to score, bringing the run total for the bottom frame of the first to six runs.

A short scoring drought went on for a few innings until Bucknell tallied its lone run of the day in the top of inning five. With the bases loaded, a short single to center got the Bison on the board. Saint Francis answered that with two more runs of its own in the next half inning. Courtney Francis (Jefferson, Ohio/Jefferson Area) got in on the scoring action as she grounded a RBI single out to center. Garcia picked up her second RBI of the day with a poke single to left.

With an 8-1 lead in the bottom of the sixth and needing just one more run to end the game on an eight-run rule, Darneille collected her third hit and third RBI of the game to secure the 9-1 win for the Red Flash.

Megan Layne (Vallejo, Calif./Rodriguez) got the start in game two and earned win number six on the year, giving up one earned run in six innings pitched. The senior hurler scattered five hits and struck out three batters in the win. Darneille hit 3-for-4 at the dish in the second game and has now gone above the .400 mark for the season offensively.

Saint Francis opens up a weekend road trip to Connecticut beginning Saturday with a Northeast Conference doubleheader against Sacred Heart scheduled for 1 p.m.