LORETTO, Pa. – The Saint Francis softball team scored five runs in the bottom of the sixth, on home runs by
Alexis Bower (Cogan Station, Pa./Williamsport Area) and
Kindra Witthus (Hudson, Wis./Hudson), to pull ahead of Cornell for a 9-7 win on Sunday at the Red Flash Softball Field. The Red Flash earned a series sweep over the Big Red to improve to 12-12 this season.
Junior
Blaire Lauthers (Doylesburg, Pa./Fannett-Metal) got the win, improving to 4-2. Lauthers pitched 1.2 scoreless innings, allowing three hits, while striking out one. Bower pitched a perfect seventh for her first save of the season. Junior
Ketarah DeVries (Forreston, Ill./Forreston) started the contest, pitching 4.1 innings, while giving up seven runs, five earned, on seven hits, with four strikeouts and a walk.
Meg Parker started the game for Cornell, going 3.1 innings, allowing four runs on four hits, while striking out four and walking six. Maddie Orcutt pitched the final 2.2 innings, giving up five runs on four hits, with four strikeouts and two walks.
Bower and freshman
Hayley Norton (Spring Grove, Pa./Spring Grove) each drove in three runs, while Bower had two hits and hit her third home run of the weekend. Witthus drove in two runs, while
Cheyenne McKee (DuBois, Pa./DuBois) had two hits and a pair of runs scored.
Cornell opened up the scoring with four runs in the top of the second. Madeline Avery singled to left to drive in Megan Murray for the first run. A wild pitch during the next at-bat allowed Leanne Iannucci to score. A double to left by Emily Weinberg drove in two runs to give Cornell a 4-0 advantage.
The Red Flash responded with four runs in the bottom of the second. With two outs and the bases loaded,
Sierra McKee (DuBois, Pa./DuBois) drew a walk to allow
Kindra Witthus (Hudson, Wis./Hudson) to score.
Hayley Norton (Spring Grove, Pa./Spring Grove) followed with a double to the left field wall to clear the bases, driving in
Aly Ramsaier (Mesa, Ariz./Mountain View),
Cheyenne McKee (DuBois, Pa./DuBois) and
Sierra McKee (DuBois, Pa./DuBois) to tie the game at 4-4.
The Big Red re-took the lead with three runs in the top of the fifth. Meg Parker hit a two-run homer to left field, which also scored Jessica Bigbie. Later in the inning, Iannucci singled to right to score Murray and give Cornell a 7-4 lead.
Bower tied the game with a three-run homer to center in the bottom of the sixth. After a single by
Cheyenne McKee (DuBois, Pa./DuBois) and a walk by Norton, Bower battled through an 11-pitch at-bat, ending with a fly ball over the wall in center. Sophomore
Jordan Seneca (Plum, Pa./Plum) followed with a single to center. Two batters later, Witthus launched a fly ball down the left field line that stayed fair and gave the Red Flash a 9-7 lead.
The Red Flash travels to the Cherry Blossom Classic, hosted by George Mason. SFU starts the tournament on Friday, March 18 with games against Canisius (12:15 p.m.) and Cornell (2:30 p.m.)
