LORETTO, Pa. – Saint Francis University softball took the first two games of a three-game series with Merrimack after a 4-3 walk-off win in game one and 2-0 victory in game two.
 
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
» Rachel Marsden allowed one hit in a complete-game shutout effort in game two. She recorded three strikeouts with no walks. At the plate, she scored one run and drove in another during game one.
» Ashley Wruble hit a walk-off sacrifice fly in game one to seal the first win. She finished Thursday with two RBIs.
» Grace Vesco allowed three runs on five hits with nine strikeouts in a complete-game victory in game one.
» Jordan Frank led Saint Francis with a .600 batting average and scored one run with one RBI
» Mekenzie Saban scored two runs, hit one triple, drew four walks (one intentional) and was 3-for-3 in stolen base attempts.
» Merrimack's Courtney Lanpher went 2-for-4 with a game-tying two-run home run in the seventh inning of game one.
 
FLASH QUOTES
"I had my spin working really well and I trusted my defense to make the plays behind me. That allowed me play loose and have some fun and that is when I pitch my best. We have to bring the bats tomorrow. We had some key hits in big spots but we need to jump on them earlier."– Junior Marsden on her performance and how the team can win game three.
 
"Rachel is a gamer who really wants to help the team win in any way she can. We talked about that a lot in preseason and I'm not surprised by this performance but I am proud of her. At the plate, we need to get our confidence back. Teams are keeping us off-balance a bit but we have to remember we are good hitters and trust ourselves." – Head coach Jessica O'Donnell on Marsden and how the team can get back to their usual production at the plate.
 
TURNING POINTS OF THE GAME – GAME 1
» Lindsay Ward led the scoring for Saint Francis when she drove in Saban in the first inning and the Red Flash led 1-0. Merrimack tied the game 1-1 in the second inning with a double to right field.
» The game was scoreless until the fifth inning when Marsden hit an RBI double and Wruble drove her in with a single and Saint Francis took a 3-1 lead.
» Down to the final strike, Merrimack's Lanpher hit a game-tying two-run home run on a 3-2 count in the top of the seventh inning.
» After Saint Francis loaded the bases, Merrimack made a pitching change before Wruble hit a walk-off sacrifice fly to center field and clinched Saint Francis' 4-3 game one win.
 
TURNING POINTS OF THE GAME – GAME 2
» Saint Francis took another first-inning lead when Frank drove in Saban and gave the Red Flash a 1-0 lead.
» Merrimack produced its first and only hit of game two on a Basil single in the top of the third inning. In four scoreless innings, the teams combined for only four baserunners.
» The Red Flash added another run in the sixth inning when Lexi Hernandez drove in Ashley Orischak with a single. With Merrimack unable to produce any runs, Saint Francis clinched its 2-0 victory in game two.

FLASH NUGGETS
» Vesco is now tied for fifth in program history with 348-career strikeouts after she fanned nine Merrimack hitters in game one. Fourth in program history is Megan Layne's 415 strikeouts from 2009-12.
» The complete-game one-hit performance is Marsden's second of her career, as she did so against Akron on Feb. 26 this season.
» With her three stolen bases Thursday, Saban is now four shy of entering the program's top-five rankings. She is nine runs scored away from moving to fourth in program history.

UP NEXT
Saint Francis concludes its series with Merrimack on Friday, April 14 at 12 p.m.