BOX SCORE 1 | BOX SCORE 2 CLEVELAND – Alexis Bower (Cogan Station, Pa./Williamsport Area) hit her team-leading fifth home run and Chelsy Cosentino (New Kensington, Pa./Kiski Area) recorded her eighth multi-hit game of the season on Thursday afternoon as the Saint Francis softball team dropped two games to Cleveland State at the CSU Dome. The Vikings won 2-1 in eight innings and 4-0.

Saint Francis flashed great defense in game one in support of Bower in the circle as the game remained scoreless through the early innings. Cosentino nailed a potential base stealer to end the second inning, the first of her two on the day. With two outs and a runner at second in the Cleveland State fourth, Samantha Thomas (Sterling, Va./Park View) cut that runner down at the plate on a single to right. In the fifth, Cleveland State had a runner at third with two outs. A swinging bunt put the ball in front of the plate and Cosentino alertly picked it up and tagged the runner as she tried to evade the tag.

All of that kept the game scoreless until the top of the sixth. Bower led off with a lined shot to center for her fifth home run of the season, tops for the Flash. Cosentino followed with her second single of the game, but the Flash had to settle for a 1-0 lead.

Cleveland State responded in its half with a leadoff double that scored on a groundout to tie the score at 1-1. Neither team could score in the seventh, and Davina Kachnovitz (Bear, Del./Glasgow) was placed at second to start the eighth with international tiebreaker rules in place. Thomas bunted her to third, but Bower's hard grounder up the middle was stabbed by the pitcher, preventing Kachnovitz from coming home. In the bottom half, CSU moved its runner to third and scored the winning run when Kachnovitz's throw to the plate on a grounder near second base was just behind the runner sliding home.

Bower took the loss, though she allowed just six hits and a walk in her seven-plus innings of work.

Game two had the same feel, with Blaire Lauthers (Doylesburg, Pa./Fannett-Metal) holding the Vikings scoreless in the first three innings. For the Flash, Taylor Parsons (Bellefonte, Pa./Bald Eagle) doubled with one out in the top of the second, but she was stranded. In the third, Lindsey Reid (Bear, Del./Caravel Academy) and Kachnovitz led off the inning with singles. Kachnovitz stole second to out two runners in scoring position with nobody out, but the Flash couldn't push a run across.

Cleveland State scored in the bottom of that inning on a two-out RBI single to make it 1-0.The score stayed at just 1-0 because of a great diving stop by Kindra Witthus (Hudson, Wis./Hudson). She was able to get off a strong throw to first to end the frame.

Bower singled and Cosentino walked with one out in the sixth with SFU still behind by one, but again Cleveland State was able to wiggle off the hook to maintain its slim advantage. It increased that lead with three insurance runs in the bottom of the inning, with two of them coming on a pop fly to right that hit the roof of the inflatable dome and landed in shallow right field.

Kachnoviotz stole two bases in game two, making her a perfect 13-for-13 on the season. She leads the team in that category.

Saint Francis opens its home schedule on Sunday at noon when NEC foe Fairleigh Dickinson makes the trip into Loretto.