LORETTO, Pa. – The Saint Francis softball team scored 15 runs in the first game of its doubleheader against Wagner on Saturday afternoon. The Flash swept the Seahawks, 15-0 and 4-2. Those the most runs for the Flash against a Northeast Conference opponent in nine years. SFU defeated St. Francis Brooklyn, 16-4, in 2006.
 
In the game one win, the Flash had 11 hits, three walks, four hit batsmen while also being aided by four Wagner errors. Four Saint Francis players had multi-hit games, led by Nicole Paiotti (Oakland, N.J./Indian Hills)'s 3-for-4 effort. She came just a triple shy of the cycle, and she got the hardest notch of it out of the way in the first inning. Her three-run blast to center scored Madison Cabell (Ivor, Va./Southampton) and Alexis Bower (Cogan Station, Pa./Williamsport Area). Paiotti finished with five RBIs. The other two came on a double in the fourth inning to cap the 15-run outburst.
 
Ahead 3-0 in the second inning, Taylor Parsons (Bellefonte, Pa./Bald Eagle) singled to right field to score Lindsey Reid (Bear, Del./Caravel Academy) and Jordan Seneca (New Kensington, Pa./Plum) to make it 5-0. Parsons added a bases-clearing double in the third inning to make it 9-0. That, along with her sacrifice fly in the fourth, gave her six RBIs in game one.
 
Cabell went 2-for-3 with two RBIs and Kindra Witthus (Hudson, Wis./Hudson) also had a pair of hits. All of the offense was plenty for the Red Flash pitching staff. Blaire Lauthers (Doylesburg, Pa./Fannett-Metal) got the start and the victory in the five-inning mercy rule win, going three innings while allowing just two hits. Ethel Santai (Pine Grove, Pa./Pine Grove Area) pitched two spotless innings in relief, striking out three and not allowing a hit.
 
Wagner put the first game behind itself, however, and took a 1-0 lead in the first inning of game two. But the Flash tied the game in the bottom of the third by manufacturing a run after a leadoff walk to Witthus. She stole second and then advanced to third on Bower's fly out to right. Cabell followed with a double down the right field line to score Witthus and make it 1-1.
 
Wagner responded in the top of the fourth inning with a solo home run to center field to take a 2-1 lead. In the bottom half of the frame, the Flash responded once again. Seneca led off with an infield single – her first of two hits in the game – and was followed after an out by Reid reaching via a throwing error. With two runners on and one out, Parsons again delivered with a three-run shot to left center to give SFU a 4-2 lead. She finished with nine RBIs in the two games.
 
Lauthers came on in relief in the fourth inning and pitched her way to her second victory of the day. She went four innings in relief, allowing just one hit. It came after two outs in the seventh inning to bring the tying run to the plate, but a pop out to Seneca at short ended any threat as the Flash completed the sweep.
 
The Flash moved into sole possession of third place in the NEC with the two wins today, sitting at 6-2 in the conference. Saint Francis will look to strengthen its hold on a potential playoff spot with a home doubleheader against LIU Brooklyn on Sunday at noon.