First Game LORETTO, Pa. – The Saint Francis softball team shutout Lafayette, 7-0, in the first game of Thursday's doubleheader at Red Flash Softball Field. SFU tallied nine hits, while allowing only three. The Red Flash moved to 16-12 on the season.
Junior
Alexis Bower (Cogan Station, Pa./Williamsport Area) improved to 5-4, pitching five innings. She allowed only two hits and three walks, while striking out four. Bower never allowed a Lafayette baserunner to reach third base and only allowed three innings with more than one baserunner. Junior
Blaire Lauthers (Doylesburg, Pa./Fannett-Metal) closed out the final two innings, giving up only one hit and one walk.
Stephanie Thomas started for Lafayette, going 5.1 innings, while allowing seven runs, six earned, on eight hits. She struck out one and walked two. Lindsey Cherry pitched the final two outs of the sixth inning, allowing only one walk.
Sophomore
Jordan Seneca (Plum, Pa./Plum) led the Red Flash offense with her seventh home run of the season, a two-run shot. She also scored two runs. Freshman
Sierra McKee (DuBois, Pa./DuBois) had two hits and scored twice, while freshman
Kassidy Troxell (Navarre, Ohio/Perry) added two doubles. Sophomore
Madison Cabell (Ivor, Va./Southampton) and freshman
Cheyenne McKee (DuBois, Pa./DuBois) each had a hit and an RBI.
The Red Flash opened the scoring in the bottom of the first.
Sierra McKee (DuBois, Pa./DuBois) drew a walk to begin the inning. With one out, McKee stole second and then moved to third on a groundout. After Cabell was hit by a pitch, SFU ran a steal play, which resulted in McKee crossing the plate for a 1-0 lead.
Saint Francis added a run in the bottom of the second. After a leadoff walk by Seneca and a double to left by Troxell, a sacrifice fly to left by junior
Kindra Witthus (Hudson, Wis./Hudson) extended the SFU lead to 2-0 as Seneca scored.
The Red Flash got three more runs in the bottom of the fifth. After a leadoff single by
Sierra McKee (DuBois, Pa./DuBois), a two-out to left by Cabell plated McKee. Seneca followed with a fly ball over the left field fence for a two-run homer to give SFU a 5-0 advantage.
Saint Francis put two more runs on the board in the bottom of the sixth. The inning began with a single to right by freshman
Mikayla Bower (Williamsport, Pa./Williamsport), who then stole second during Witthus's at-bat. A flyout to center by Witthus pushed Bower to third.
Cheyenne McKee (DuBois, Pa./DuBois) then blooped a bunt over the charging third baseman to allow Bower to score. Two batters later, Norton singled down the right field line to plate McKee to push the SFU lead to 7-0.
Second Game LORETTO, Pa. – The Saint Francis softball team clinched a sweep of the doubleheader with a 9-1, mercy-rule victory, in six innings in the second contest. The Red Flash totaled 11 hits to improve to 17-12 this season. SFU is now riding an eight-game win streak and has won 10 of its last 11 games. Lafayette dropped to 6-12 on the year.
Redshirt junior
Ketarah DeVries (Forreston, Ill./Forreston) is now 5-1 on the season after throwing five innings. She allowed only one run on four hits, while striking out six and walking two. Junior
Ethel Santai (Pine Grove, Pa./Pine Grove Area) pitched the sixth inning, striking out one and giving up a hit. The Red Flash allowed only one extra base hit between the two games.
Stacy Gordon pitched four innings for the Leopards, allowing seven runs, six earned, on eight hits. She struck out one and did not walk a batter. Lindsey Cherry finished the final 1.2 innings, allowing two runs on three hits, while a strikeout and three walks.
SFU's
Sierra McKee (DuBois, Pa./DuBois) had three hits, including her first career home run, and scored three times.
Hayley Norton (Spring Grove, Pa./Spring Grove) also homered, finishing the game with two hits, two RBI and two runs.
Jordan Seneca (Plum, Pa./Plum) had two RBI, while
Alexis Bower (Cogan Station, Pa./Williamsport Area) and
Madison Cabell (Ivor, Va./Southampton) each drove in a run.
The Red Flash posted a four-run first inning in the second game.
Sierra McKee (DuBois, Pa./DuBois) led off with a single to right. On a 1-0 pitch, Norton then crushed a home run, her seventh of the season, over the centerfield wall. Bower followed with a single. Cabell then roped a triple to right to score Bower. Two batters later,
Kassidy Troxell (Navarre, Ohio/Perry) reached on an error by the Lafayette shortstop as Cabell crossed the plate for the fourth run.
Saint Francis added a run in the bottom of the second as
Sierra McKee (DuBois, Pa./DuBois) hit her first career home run. McKee sent a 1-1 pitch over the left field wall. SFU led 5-0.
Lafayette scored in the top of the fourth. An infield single by Brooke Wensel allowed Samantha Sweigart to score and cut the Red Flash lead to four runs.
The Red Flash answered with two runs in the bottom of the fifth. After back-to-back singles by Norton and Bower, Cabell drew a walk to load the bases. Seneca then grounded out to second to score Norton. Troxell followed with a ground out, which plated pinch-runner
Kelsie Marconi (Lowber, Pa./Yough) to extend the SFU lead to 7-1.
Saint Francis clinched the mercy-rule victory with two runs in the bottom of the sixth. One-out singles by the McKee sisters and a walk by Norton setup Bower with the bases loaded. The junior drew a walk to plate a run. Two batters later, Seneca hit an infield single to second to allow
Sierra McKee (DuBois, Pa./DuBois) to cross for SFU's ninth run.
The Red Flash travels to Marshall on Tuesday for a doubleheader, beginning at 2 p.m. at Dot Hicks Field.
