CLERMONT, FL – The Alfred University softball team scored seven sixth-inning runs to rally past St. Mary's College, winning 13-8 to split a pair of games against the Belles Thursday afternoon on the fourth day of the Saxons' Spring Break trip to Florida.
 
Combined with an earlier 7-5 loss to St. Mary's, Alfred's record now stands at 5-3, with four games remaining to play in Florida.
 
In Thursday's second game, with AU trailing 7-6 entering the home half of the sixth, the Saxons batted around, sending 10 batters to plate and scoring seven to go up 13-7.
 
The first three AU batters in the inning reached on errors. With the bases loaded and no outs, junior third baseman Liz Thompson (Horseheads, NY/Horseheads) hit a single that scored senior outfielder Samantha Jauregui (Lindsay, CA/Lindsay) and senior second baseman Dana Torchia (Pompton Plains, NJ/Pequannock Twp.) to make it 8-7, Alfred. Two batters later, with the sacks packed again, junior first baseman Sophia Chiavatti (Tustin, CA/Foothill) belted a single that brought home Thompson and senior Jasmine Picini (Alexandria, VA/Potomac West).
 
Three more runs would score for AU, putting the Saxons up 13-7. St. Mary's closed out the scoring with a single run in the top of the seventh.
 
Chiavatti went 2-for-3 with a run and four RBI and Torchia had two hits and scored three times to pace the Saxons' offense. Jauregui was 3-for-5 with two runs; senior shortstop Nicole Maher (Newark, DE/Caravel Academy) was 3-for-3 with two runs driven in; senior catcher Nora Passuite (Lockport, NY/Lockport) hit a double and scored twice; and freshman outfielder Becca Alexander (Middletown, DE/Middletown) had two hits and scored a run.
 
Freshman Dominque D'Andrea (Waterford, NJ/St. Joseph) earned the pitching win in relief of sophomore starter Kerry Keeler (Jamesville, NY/Jamesville-DeWitt). D'Andrea went three innings, allowing three runs on three hits and striking out a pair. Keeler allowed five runs (four earned) on five hits over four innings, fanning two.
 
In the opener, St. Mary's scored three runs in the bottom of the first to take a 3-1 lead. After AU tied the game with a pair of runs in the third, the Belles went up for good with three in the bottom of the frame. The Saxons closed to within a run, at 6-5, scoring twice in the fourth, but St. Mary's plated an insurance run in the fifth and held AU scoreless the rest of the way.
 
Jauregui was 2-for-4 with a run, while Maher (2-for-5, run) and sophomore third baseman Haley Powers (Newark, DE/St. Georges Tech) (1-3, run, RBI) each belted doubles. Picini was 2-for-3 with a run scored and two runs driven in, and Chiavatti had three hits in four at-bats, with a run and an RBI.
 
Sophomore Shannon Schaefer (Westfield, NJ/Westfield) took the pitching loss for Alfred to fall to 2-1 on the year. She went the distance, allowing seven earned runs on eight hits while striking out five.
 
AU returns to action with a pair of games Friday: at 9 a.m. against Misericordia and 3 p.m. against Penn State-Behrend. The Saxons wrap up their Florida trip Saturday with a 1 p.m. game against Northwestern (MN) and a 5 p.m. matchup with Anderson.