BOX SCORE 1 | BOX SCORE 2 SMITHFIELD, R.I. (April 6, 2013) – Finally having the chance to begin Northeast Conference action, the Saint Francis U softball team split a doubleheader at Bryant Saturday afternoon. The Flash took game one 9-5 but fell 9-2 in the second game.

In game one the Red Flash (16-13, 1-1 NEC) jumped out to an early 5-0 lead using patience at the plate and timely hitting. After Chelsy Cosentino (New Kensington, Pa./Kiski Area) and Davina Kachnovitz (Bear, Del./Glasgow) led off with back-to-back infield singles, Taylor Parsons (Bellefonte, Pa./Bald Eagle) drew a walk to load the bases with no outs. Sabrie Neeb (Front Royal, Va./Skyline) also showed patience drawing a walk to bring in the first run.

Two consecutive ground outs brought Chelsea Rex (Philipsburg, Pa./Philipsburg-Osceola) to the plate and with two strikes, Rex lined a two-RBI single to left field. Brianna Garcia (Riverside, Calif./Arlington) then stepped in and poked a gap shot to left center that plated two more runs.
Bryant (11-15, 4-6 NEC) found a way to answer however when Aubrey Mable lifted a two-run homer to cut the Flash advantage to 5-2. In the second, a single that fell in just fair down the left field line by Parsons gave SFU its sixth run of the contest.

Saint Francis continued to pad its lead in the third when Garcia collected her second RBI double of the game, a towering fly ball over the center fielder's head. Bryant chipped away at the Flash lead in the fourth when Elle Madsen launched a two-run homerun to left field, which closed the score to a 7-4 SFU advantage.

After Darneille scored on a passed ball in the top of the fifth to make it 8-4, Bryant again threatened to close the gap in their half of the fifth. A fly ball to center plated one Bulldog run and left a runner on third with just one out. Some strong heads up defense by Kachnovitz at shortstop however ended the Bryant threat.

In the top of the sixth, the Red Flash used more two-out magic to extend their lead to 9-5. Aly Ramsaier (Mesa, Ariz./Mountain View) came through with a single over the glove of the third baseman that scored Kachnovitz from second. SFU held on in the seventh, getting three consecutive outs, to secure the win.

Ketarah DeVries (Forreston, Ill./Forreston) (11-8) got the start in the circle for Saint Francis and threw all seven innings. She surrendered all five earned runs on six hits but did issue five strikeouts.

Game two did not get off to quite the same start for the Red Flash as it was the Bulldogs who jumped out to an early 3-0 lead in the first inning. Saint Francis took advantage of some shaky Bryant defense in the third though to claw back. Garcia led off with an infield single and later scored in the inning when the Bulldog shortstop committed a fielding error. The Flash got its second run on a Parsons RBI single up the middle that came with the bases loaded.

Bryant tacked on a couple more runs in the bottom of the fifth when a pair of back-to-back doubles gave the Bulldogs a 5-2 lead. The Bulldogs continued to add to their lead in the sixth, collecting four additional runs.

Brooke Koch (Jersey Shore, Pa./Jersey Shore) (1-4) started in the circle for SFU but was replaced by DeVries after allowing three runs in 0.1 innings pitched. DeVries threw the next 5.1 innings and was then relieved herself in the sixth by Rex.

Saint Francis makes the short drive down to Central Connecticut on Sunday to take on the first place Blue Devils at noon.