LORETTO, Pa. – The Saint Francis softball team split its final doubleheader of the regular season against Robert Morris on Saturday afternoon, winning game one 6-5 in eight innings before dropping game two, 4-3. With LIU Brooklyn's sweep of Central Connecticut on Saturday, the Flash finished one game out of qualifying for the NEC Tournament.
 
The game one victory had a happy subplot as senior center fielder Taylor Parsons (Bellefonte, Pa./Bald Eagle) had two hits in the game to break the Saint Francis career record. Her 194th career hit to tie the Kelly Slingwine's record came in the third inning of a scoreless game. It pushed Lindsey Reid (Bear, Del./Caravel Academy) to second base, and Reid came around to score on a Kindra Witthus (Hudson, Wis./Hudson) bunt that split the pitcher and third baseman for a single.
 
Robert Morris tied the score at one in the top of the fourth, but the Flash came back in the bottom half. Jordan Seneca (New Kensington, Pa./Plum) led off with a single and advanced to third on a pair of groundouts. That brought Parsons to the plate, and her two-out single up the middle gave her the record with hit number 195 while also scoring Seneca to make it 2-1 SFU. Alexis Bower (Cogan Station, Pa./Williamsport Area) followed two hitters later with her own single to bring home Parsons to make it 3-1.
 
Robert Morris again answered with three runs in the top of the fifth. With two runners on base via walks, Kristen Gabelt homered to right center to make it 4-3 Robert Morris. It didn't last long, however, as Elise Jancef (Wilson, N.Y./Wilson) opened the bottom of the fifth with a deep homer to center to tie the score.
 
The score stayed tied until extra innings. In the top of the eighth, Robert Morris hit a pair of doubles to take a 5-4 lead. In the bottom of the eighth, though, the Flash fought back. Seneca led off with an infield single and was sacrificed to second. Lindsey Reid (Bear, Del./Caravel Academy) walked to put the winning run at first. After the second out of the inning, Witthus fouled off several pitches to keep the game alive, and she won the battle with a single to left center to bring Seneca home to tie the score at five. Bower came up next, and her grounder to shortstop was misplayed. Reid scored to give the Flash a come-from-behind 6-5 win.
 
Parsons, Witthus and Seneca each had two hits as the Flash pounded out 10 of them in game one.
 
Robert Morris loaded the bases with nobody out in the first inning of game two, but Ethel Santai (Pine Grove, Pa./Pine Grove Area) limited the damage by allowing just one run to cross in the frame. On the sacrifice fly to center to score the run, Bower cut off Parsons throw to the plate and nailed the runner attempting to advance to second with a throw to Reid.
 
The Flash came back with two runs in the bottom of the third inning to take the lead. Parsons doubled with one out to give her 20 for the season, a new school record. She broke Brooke Keiper's 19 in 2001. She already owns the career doubles record, finishing with 52. It also proved to be her final hit, number 196. With two outs, Bower ripped a double to left center to score Parsons to tie the score at one. That gave Parsons 117 career runs scored, also a new school record. Madison Cabell (Ivor, Va./Southampton) followed with a run-scoring single to make it 2-1 Flash.
 
In the fourth, the Flash added an insurance run. Maggie Creciun (Norristown, Pa./Norristown) doubled to left field after two outs and came around on Reid's single to make it 3-1. Robert Morris came back in the top of the sixth. Two singles brought the go-ahead run to the plate, and Samantha Santillo gave the Colonials a 4-3 lead with a three-run home run to center. Saint Francis was retired in order in each of its last two at-bats as its season came to an end.
 
The Red Flash finished one of the best seasons in school history with 31 victories. That's second only to the 33 wins the team won in 1998. The 2015 team also finished second in school history in several categories. The team's 246 runs scored, 209 RBIs and 74 doubles all came in second behind the 2006 team. The team also shattered the school record for walks in a season, drawing 163 free passes. Last year's team had the previous high with 136.