Tournament Central
 
BROOKLYN, N.Y. – The Saint Francis softball team fell 5-4 against LIU Brooklyn on Friday in the NEC Tournament.  The Red Flash held a 4-0 lead going into the bottom of the sixth, but the Blackbirds rallied for three runs in the sixth and two in the seventh for a walkoff win.  SFU is now 34-23 this season.
 
The Red Flash will play again at 3 p.m. today, when it meets the winner of the Robert Morris/Bryant matchup.
 
Junior Ethel Santai (Pine Grove, Pa./Pine Grove Area) got the start in the circle for the second straight game.  Santai pitched five innings, giving up just one run on four hits.  Santai struck out one and walked none.  After Santai allowed a home run to leadoff the sixth, Ketarah DeVries (Forreston, Ill./Forreston) entered.  DeVries went two-thirds of an inning, allowing two runs on two hits, while striking out one and walking one.  Blaire Lauthers (Doylesburg, Pa./Fannett-Metal) entered with two outs in the sixth.  Lauthers also threw two-thirds of an inning, giving up two runs on three hits.
 
Erynn Sobieski started for LIU Brooklyn.  She pitched a complete game, allowing four runs, one earned, on six hits.  She struck out five batters.
 
Sophomore Madison Cabell (Ivor, Va./Southampton) led the Saint Francis offense with two hits, including a double, and two RBI.  Jordan Seneca (Plum, Pa./Plum) and Kindra Witthus (Hudson, Wis./Hudson) each drove in a run, while Kassidy Troxell (Navarre, Ohio/Perry) added a double.
 
The Red Flash got on the board with three runs in the top of the third.  Sierra McKee (DuBois, Pa./DuBois) reached on an error to leadoff the inning.  SFU put runners on first and second after Cheyenne McKee (DuBois, Pa./DuBois) was hit by a pitch.  A groundout by Hayley Norton (Spring Grove, Pa./Spring Grove) moved the runners to second and third.  Seneca then battled through a nine-pitch at-bat, sending the last pitch to third on a groundball.  S. McKee beat the throw home on the play to give SFU its first run.  Two batters later, Cabell lined a double to left-center to score C. McKee and Seneca and give SFU a 3-0 advantage.
 
LIU Brooklyn had a run taken off the board in the bottom of the fifth after a substitution error resulted in the Blackbirds batting out of order.
 
Saint Francis added a run in the top of the sixth.  Troxell lined a one-out double to right-center.  Pinch-hitter Mikayla Bower (Williamsport, Pa./Williamsport) followed with an infield single to move pinch-runner Kate Blattenberger (Martinsburg, Pa./Central) to third.  Witthus then reached on her own infield single to score Blattenberger and extend the SFU lead to 4-0.
 
The Blackbirds scored three runs in the bottom of the sixth.  Ariana Lopez led off the inning with a home run to center.  Later in the frame, a two-out double to right-center by Alyssa Gospodarek allowed Victoria Zamora and Angie Vazquez to cross the plate and cut the SFU lead to 4-3.
 
With one out in the bottom of the seventh, Zamora lined a double to center field to drive in Patricia Griffin and Whitney West to clinch a walk-off win.