BOX SCORE 1 | BOX SCORE 2 WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Saint Francis softball team capped a frantic comeback against Manhattan with an RBI single in the eighth inning by Elise Jancef (Wilson, N.Y./Wilson) to defeat the Jaspers, 7-6, on the final day of the Capital Invitational at The George Washington University.

With Samantha Thomas (Sterling, Va./Park View) placed at second in the eighth inning due to tiebreaking procedures, Kindra Witthus (Hudson, Wis./Hudson) led off the inning with a sacrifice bunt. Jancef followed with a pinch-hit single to center to give the Flash the victory. The victory only came after the Flash dug a hole for itself.

After the teams traded unearned runs in the first inning, the Jaspers retook the lead in the second and added on in the fourth. An RBI single made it 2-1 in the second, and a three-run homer pushed Manhattan out to a 5-1 lead.

The Flash used a double steal to make it 5-2, with Witthus taking second while Thomas sprinted home. WItthus later scored on Maggie Creciun (Norristown, Pa./Norristown)'s RBI single up the middle to cut the lead to 5-3.

After Manhattan got one of those runs back in the top of the sixth on another home run to make it 6-3, SFU tied the score in its half of that inning. Witthus doubled to right center to score Thomas to make it 6-4. Creciun followed with a bunt single to put runners at the corners, and Davina Kachnovitz (Bear, Del./Glasgow) walked two batters later. With two outs and the bases loaded, Alexis Bower (Cogan Station, Pa./Williamsport Area) ripped a ball off the third baseman's glove and into the outfield for a two-run single to tie the game.

The Jaspers had runners at the corners in the top of the eighth, but a caught stealing and a shallow fly to left took that chance away. The Flash, on the other, needed just two batters in its at-bat to end the game as a light snow began to fall.

WItthus was 3-for-3 and Thomas had two hits and three runs scored. Creciun also had two hits. Ketarah DeVries (Forreston, Ill./Forreston) allowed just one run in three innings of relief to earn her fifth victory of the season.

In the first game of the day, the Flash defeated Brown for the second time in as many days on the strength of a four-run third inning and some heady base running. Brown took a 1-0 lead into the frame, but Kachnovitz drove home Creciun to tie the score with a single through the right side. With Lindsey Reid (Bear, Del./Caravel Academy) at third, Bower dropped a bunt single to third, and an errant throw on the play allowed Reid to score and Kachnovitz to end up at third to make it 2-1 SFU.

That's when the Flash got tricky on the base paths. Bower took off for second on a delayed steal attempt with Chelsy Cosentino (New Kensington, Pa./Kiski Area) at the plate. The throw skipped into shallow center field allowing Kachnovitz to score. Cosentino singled Bower to third, and the process repeated. This time, the throw was successfully made to second base, but Cosentino was safe as Bower broke safely for the plate. The double steal made it 4-1.

Brown added a run on a solo homer in the seventh and had the tying run in scoring position, but Ethel Santai (Pine Grove, Pa./Pine Grove Area) got a grounder to third that was smoothly handled by Witthus and fired on to first to seal the victory. Santai went the distance, scattering nine hits over seven innings while striking out two.

The Red Flash hits the road for a non-conference doubleheader at Pittsburgh on Wednesday at 3:00 p.m.