LORETTO, Pa. – The Saint Francis softball team finished the regular season with a sweep over Fairleigh Dickinson on Saturday.  The Red Flash won the first game, 6-4, and followed with a 4-1 victory in the second game.  Saint Francis improved to 33-22 overall and finished with a 13-3 record in the NEC.
 
The Red Flash tied the program single-season wins record with its 33rd victory.  That tied the record set by the 1998 team. 
 
SFU also set a new program-high with its 13th NEC win, topping 12 conference victories by the 2001 and 2002 squads.
 
Junior Kindra Witthus (Hudson, Wis./Hudson) hit an RBI single in the third inning of the first game.  The RBI was Saint Francis' 321st of the season, setting a new NEC single-season record.  With that RBI, SFU passed UMBC's mark set in 2006.
 
The Red Flash also broke the NEC single-season runs record.  On Cheyenne McKee (DuBois, Pa./DuBois)'s homer in the second game, SFU scored its 354th and 355th runs of the season, topping the record held by UMBC in 2006.
 
Freshman McKenzie Burge (Osceola Mills, Pa./Phillipsburg-Osceola) hit her first career home run in the second inning of game one.  Burge is the 11th different Red Flash player to hit a home run this season. 
 
The Red Flash will compete at next week's NEC Tournament.  Saint Francis will be at least the No. 2 seed.
 
First Game
Junior Ethel Santai (Pine Grove, Pa./Pine Grove Area) started in the circle for the Red Flash and earned her eighth win.  Santai went four innings, allowing four runs on six hits, while striking out four and walking one.  Fellow junior Blaire Lauthers (Doylesburg, Pa./Fannett-Metal) entered in the fifth and threw the final three innings to pick up her second save of the year.  Lauthers had three scoreless frames, allowing only one hit and striking out three.
 
Loren Stavrou got the start for the Knights.  She pitched two innings, giving up four runs, two earned, on four hits.  Stavrou struck out one and walked two.  Cheryl Lopez threw the final four frames, allowing two runs, on one hit, while striking out five and walking five.
 
Freshman McKenzie Burge (Osceola Mills, Pa./Phillipsburg-Osceola) hit her first career home run, driving in two runs, and scored two runs.  Freshman Hayley Norton (Spring Grove, Pa./Spring Grove) added a double.  Freshman Cheyenne McKee (DuBois, Pa./DuBois) and junior Kindra Witthus (Hudson, Wis./Hudson) each had RBI knocks.
 
Fairleigh Dickinson took a 2-0 lead in the first inning.  With two outs, Reanna Cervantes hit a solo home run to center.  Kellie Natham followed with her own solo shot, also to center.
 
The Red Flash answered with a run in the bottom of the first.  With one out, Norton lined a ball to the left field wall for a double.  Jordan Seneca (Plum, Pa./Plum) was then hit by a pitch.  A line-drive single to center by Alexis Bower (Cogan Station, Pa./Williamsport Area) loaded the bases for Madison Cabell (Ivor, Va./Southampton).  The sophomore hit a sacrifice fly to right to drive in Norton from third.  SFU cut the deficit to 2-1.
 
Saint Francis added three runs in the bottom of the second.  After Kassidy Troxell (Navarre, Ohio/Perry) reached on an error by the third baseman, Burge launched the first pitch of the at-bat over the centerfield wall for her first career home run.  Two batters later, Cheyenne McKee (DuBois, Pa./DuBois) singled on a groundball to left.  Sierra McKee (DuBois, Pa./DuBois) and Norton followed with walks to load the bases.  Seneca then hit a fly ball to right to allow C. McKee to cross the plate and give the SFU lead to 4-2.
 
The Red Flash plated two more runs in the bottom of the third.  With one out, Troxell and Burge worked back-to-back walks.  A single to left by Witthus drove in Troxell.  A groundout to third by Cheyenne McKee (DuBois, Pa./DuBois) allowed Burge to score from third to extend the SFU advantage to 6-2.
 
Fairleigh Dickinson got two runs back in the top of the fourth.  With one out, Courtney Slye hit a two-run homer to center, also scoring Cheryl Lopez, to cut the SFU lead to 6-4. 
 
Second Game
Junior Ketarah DeVries (Forreston, Ill./Forreston) started game two for Saint Francis and claimed her 13th win of the season.  DeVries threw 4.1 innings, allowing one hit, while striking out four and walking three.  DeVries did not allow a hit until a single by the second batter of the fifth inning.  Junior Blaire Lauthers (Doylesburg, Pa./Fannett-Metal) earned her second save of the day by throwing the final 2.2 innings, giving up just one run on two hits and striking out one.
 
Loren Stavrou also started the second game for Fairleigh Dickinson.  She threw four innings, allowing two runs, one earned, on two hits, and walked three.  Cheryl Lopez pitched the last two innings, giving up two runs, on a pair of hits, striking out three and walking three.
 
Saint Francis only had four hits, but the biggest of the game was a two-run homer by Cheyenne McKee (DuBois, Pa./DuBois), who drove in three runs and scored two in the game.  Kindra Witthus (Hudson, Wis./Hudson) had two knocks and Jordan Seneca (Plum, Pa./Plum) drove in a run.
 
The Red Flash got on the board in the bottom of the second.  Madison Cabell (Ivor, Va./Southampton) reached on an infield single to lead off the inning.  Kassidy Troxell (Navarre, Ohio/Perry) then reached on a fielder's choice.  A walk by McKenzie Burge (Osceola Mills, Pa./Phillipsburg-Osceola) moved Troxell to second.  Witthus followed with an infield single to load the bases.  A groundball to shortstop by McKee resulted in a fielder's choice and Troxell scoring from third to give SFU a 1-0 lead.
 
Saint Francis added a run in the bottom of the fifth.  Cheyenne McKee (DuBois, Pa./DuBois) was hit by a pitch to start the inning.  Sierra McKee (DuBois, Pa./DuBois) attempted a sacrifice bunt, with an error allowing her to reach first as Cheyenne moved to second.  Hayley Norton (Spring Grove, Pa./Spring Grove) then drew a walk after working a full count to load the bases.  Jordan Seneca (Plum, Pa./Plum) followed by drawing her own walk to score C. McKee from third and extend the SFU lead to 2-0.
 
Fairleigh Dickinson responded with a run in the top of the sixth.  With one out, Francine Villalobos lined a ball over the fence in right for an opposite-field homer to cut the SFU advantage to 2-1.
 
The Red Flash plated two runs in the bottom of the sixth.  With two outs, Witthus reached on an infield single to third.  Cheyenne McKee (DuBois, Pa./DuBois) followed by launching a 2-1 pitch over the wall in center to expand the SFU lead to 4-1.