First Game

WILMINGTON, N.C. – The Saint Francis softball team fell, 4-3, to Eastern Kentucky in the first game of the day on Saturday at the Seahawk Softball Bash, hosted by UNC Wilmington.  The Red Flash tallied seven hits, including a home run by sophomore Jordan Seneca (Plum, Pa./Plum), but the Colonials re-took the lead in the bottom of the fifth and closed out the final two innings.
 
Junior Ketarah DeVries (Forreston, Ill./Forreston) suffered her first loss of the season, throwing 5.2 innings, allowing four runs on nine hits, while striking out seven and walking four.  She threw 125 pitches, including 78 strikes.  Junior Blaire Lauthers (Doylesburg, Pa./Fannett-Metal) replaced DeVries for the final out of the sixth inning, inducing a foul pop out to the catcher to the only batter she faced.
 
Sophomore Madison Cabell (Ivor, Va./Southampton) and freshman McKenzie Burge (Osceola Mills, Pa./Phillipsburg-Osceola) each collected two hits and scored a run.  Seneca hit her second home run of the weekend in the top of the fifth inning.  Junior Kindra Witthus (Hudson, Wis./Hudson) also drove in a run.
 
The Colonials got the first run of the day.  After a double and a walk to lead off the bottom of the second, a sacrifice bunt pushed the runners to second and third.  Two batters later, a wild pitch allowed EKU's Sarah Fobbs to score from third.
 
The Red Flash took the lead in the top of the fourth.  Cabell led off the inning with an infield single.  Two batters later, Burge singled up the middle.  Senior Kate Blattenberger (Martinsburg, Pa./Central) flew out to right to allow Cabell to move up to third. With runners on the corners and Witthus batting, Burge stole second, a wild throw by the EKU catcher allowed Cabell to score and Burge to reach third.  Witthus then lined a ball to center to drive in Burge and take a 2-1 lead.
 
Eastern Kentucky's Amber Murray led off the bottom of the fourth with a home run to left to tie the score at 2-all.  The Colonials retook the lead, 3-2, on a sac fly to left three batters later.
 
With one out in the top of the fifth, Seneca launched a ball over the center field wall to tie the game back up at 3-3.  It was her second homer of the weekend.
 
The fourth lead change of the day came in the bottom of the fifth as the Colonials used an infield single to take a 4-3 lead.
 
Second Game

WILMINGTON, N.C. – The Saint Francis softball team bounced back from a loss to Eastern Kentucky earlier in the day to defeat Army, 10-2, and improve to 3-1 on the season.  The Red Flash totaled seven hits, including three extra-base knocks and held Army scoreless in four of the six innings. 
 
Junior Ethel Santai (Pine Grove, Pa./Pine Grove Area) earned her second win of the weekend, throwing a complete game, allowing three hits, two runs, both unearned, while striking out one and walking one.
 
Freshman Hayley Norton (Spring Grove, Pa./Spring Grove) led the way with two hits, including a double and a triple, and drove in four runs.  Fellow rookie Sierra McKee (DuBois, Pa./DuBois) added a pair of hits, while driving in two runs and scoring two.  Seneca also had two hits, including an RBI double.
 
The Black Knights got the first run of the evening in the top of the second.  With runners on the corners, the runner at first broke for second on a pitch.  After the throw down to second, Alee Rashenskas broke from third and scored to give Army West Point a 1-0 advantage.
 
The Red Flash responded with two runs in the bottom of the second.  Freshman Cheyenne McKee (DuBois, Pa./DuBois) led off the inning with an infield single.  The next batter, freshman Melanie Martire (Herndon, Va./Herndon), reached on an error by the shortstop that moved McKee to second.  Burge then laid down a sacrifice bunt to move the runners to second and third with one out.  Two batters later, junior Kelsie Marconi (Lowber, Pa./Yough) sent a groundball through the legs of the Army shortstop, allowing Martire and McKee to score and give SFU a 2-1 lead.
 
Army added a run in the top of the fourth to tie the score at 2-2.  With a runner on second and one out, the Black Knights' Hailey Megge stole third.  The throw towards third was off the mark, allowing Megge to score.
 
Saint Francis re-claimed the lead with four runs in the bottom of the frame.  Walks drawn by Martire and freshman MiKayla Bower, as well as Witthus reaching on an error, loaded the bases for Sierra McKee (DuBois, Pa./DuBois).  The freshman ripped a line drive to center field to score Martire.  With freshman Hayley Norton (Spring Grove, Pa./Spring Grove) batting, a passed ball allowed Witthus to score and Marconi, a pinch-runner for Bower, to move up to third.  Norton cleared the bases with a double to the right field wall, driving in Marconi and McKee.  The Red Flash led 6-2 after four innings.
 
SFU exploded for four more runs in the bottom of the sixth.  After Witthus and Marconi both reached on hit-by-pitch's, Sierra McKee (DuBois, Pa./DuBois) shot a single up the middle to score Witthus. With runners on second and third, Norton crushed a ball down the right field line for a triple to plate two runs.  The next batter, Seneca, sent the first pitch of her at-bat to the center field wall to score Norton and clinch the win by the mercy-run rule.
 
The Red Flash will wrap up the Seahawk Softball Bash on Sunday at Noon against Eastern Kentucky.