WILLIAMSPORT, PA – The Alfred University softball team won a pair of non-conference games Tuesday afternoon at Penn College.
 
The Saxons (22-2) won the first game of the doubleheader, 7-3, and took the second game, 7-1, to run their winning streak to a program-best 16 games.
 
In the opener, sophomore shortstop Liz Thompson (Horseheads, NY/Horseheads) went 3-for-4 with a solo homerun, three runs scored and two RBIs and the Saxons got five innings of scoreless three-hit relief from freshman pitcher Kerri Keeler (Jamesville, NY/Jamesville-DeWitt).
 
Alfred scored twice in the top of the first, but the host Wildcats answered with a run in the bottom of the frame and two more in the second to take a 3-2 lead. Alfred scored three in the third, with Thompson cranking a leadoff homerun, to go back in front. The Saxons added a pair of insurance in support of Keeler, who relieved sophomore starter Sophia Chiavatti (Austin, CA/Foothills) and struck out four to improve to 6-0 on the season.
 
Junior second baseman Dana Torchia (Pompton Plains, NJ/Pequannock Twp.) was 2-for-4 with a double, two runs and an RBI; junior catcher Nora Passuite (Lockport, NY/Lockport) had two hits, scored a run and drove one in; and senior outfielder Alyson Hampton (Oxnard, CA/Oxnard) was 2-for-3 with a run scored.
 
In the second game, junior catcher Jasmine Picini (Alexandria, VA/West Potomac) drove in what proved to be the winning run with a two-run first-inning triple. AU added single runs in the second and third before Penn College plated its lone run of the game in the bottom of the third.
 
Alfred pulled away with three run in the sixth, more than enough for freshman starting pitcher Shannon Schaefer (Westfield, NJ/Westfield), who tossed a complete game to improve to 4-0 on the year. Schaefer scattered five hits and struck out three, allowing one unearned run.
 
Picini added also hit a run-scoring single and finished with three RBIs, while Thompson was 2-for-4 with a pair of runs scored.
 
Freshman third baseman Haley Powers (Newark, DE/St. Georges Tech) belted a double; Passuite (RBI) and junior outfielder Samantha Jauregui (Lindsay, CA/Lindsay) each scored a run; and junior Mackenzie Miller (Newport, OR/Newport) was 3-for-4 with a run scored.
 
AU is in action next on Friday, April 17, when the Saxons (4-0 Empire 8) return to conference play with a 3 p.m. doubleheader at Elmira. Alfred's scheduled doubleheader at home against Fredonia, Wednesday, April 15, has been canceled.