BOX SCORE 1 | BOX SCORE 2 DOVER, Del. (March 15, 2013) – Friday afternoon the Saint Francis U softball team took a pair of games from Delaware State on the road by the finals of 9-1 in game one and 5-4 in extra innings in game two.

Delaware State (4-13) scored its lone run of the first game in the bottom of the first on a fielder's choice play. SFU (13-7) pounded out eight hits and nine runs from there to reach the eight-run mercy rule in the sixth inning.

Saint Francis notched three runs in the top of the second, starting with a RBI double off the bat of Kate Blattenberger (Martinsburg, Pa./Central) that scored Misty Hammel (Oakville, Ontario/Holy Trinity) from second. After some well executed small ball by the Red Flash, Taylor Parsons (Bellefonte, Pa./Bald Eagle) roped a single through the right side that plated two runs.

The Flash picked up single runs in both the third and fourth innings to take hold of a 5-1 advantage before adding three more in the top of the fifth. Thanks to some shaky defense by the Hornets and a wild pitch, Blattenberger and Maggie Creciun (Norristown, Pa./Norristown) both crossed home plate successfully. Davina Kachnovitz (Bear, Del./Glasgow) then collected her team-leading 16^th RBI of the season on a sacrifice fly to left.

After SFU added one final run in the sixth, Brooke Koch (Jersey Shore, Pa./Jersey Shore) entered the game in relief for starter Ketarah DeVries (Forreston, Ill./Forreston) and got the final three outs to secure the 9-1 victory. DeVries improved her pitching record to 7-4 on the year and gave up just the one earned run on five hits.

Game two played out a bit differently and needed extra frames to determine a winner. Neither team managed a hit in the contest until the third inning when Samantha Thomas (Sterling, Va./Park View) legged out an infield single. Thomas again used her speed to come all the way around from first to score on a single to right center by Kachnovitz.

DSU did most of its damage in the bottom part of the third, taking advantage of two SFU errors that came with two outs. Jordan Stamps tripled home the two Hornet runners and was then brought in to score herself on a single by Rochelle Sablay.

After the Red Flash had cut the lead to a single run, Parsons tied things up at 3-3 in the top of the fifth on a single that scored Thomas. The Hornets answered right back though with a run of their own in the bottom portion of inning five. Saint Francis found a way though to hang on and tie the game once more in the next half inning when Kachnovitz displayed patience at the plate to draw a bases loaded walk, evening the score at 4-4.

As the game headed into extra frames, Hammel was placed on second to start the inning due to tiebreak rules. Brianna Garcia (Riverside, Calif./Arlington) laid down the successful sacrifice bunt that moved Hammel to third with one out. Taylor Darneille (Fircrest, Wash./Wilson) stepped in and lifted a pitch deep enough to center that allowed Hammel to tag and score the game winning run from third.

In their last at-bats of the game, Delaware State also advanced a runner to third with just one out, but back-to-back groundouts in the infield put a stop to any chance of the Hornets tying things up. DeVries (8-4) was the pitcher of record after she tossed two innings of relief work, fanned two batters and gave up just one hit. Chelsea Rex (Philipsburg, Pa./Philipsburg-Osceola) started in the circle for SFU and threw the first six innings, giving up four runs, only one of which was earned however, on six hits.

Parsons carried out a very successful day at the plate, going 4-for-7 with a run scored and three runs batted in.

Saint Francis remains in the state of Delaware for the University of Delaware tournament beginning Saturday at 11:15 a.m. against Villanova.