BUFFALO, NY – The Alfred University softball team traveled to Buffalo Wednesday to take on Medaille College and banged out 28 hits while taking both ends of the non-league doubleheader.
 
AU won the first game, 10-3, then took the nightcap, 13-3, to improve to 18-10 on the season. With the two losses, Medaille falls to 11-11 on the year.
 
After a scoreless first in the opener, AU took a 2-0 lead with single runs in the second and third innings. In the second frame, freshman Amanda Shaffer (Sandyston, NJ/Kittattiny Regional) led off with a walk and moved to third on a bunt and groundout before scoring on a wild pitch. In the third, junior third baseman Liz Thompson (Horseheads, NY/Horseheads) scored on an error to make it 2-0.
 
Medaille cut its deficit in half with a run the bottom of the fourth before AU took a 5-1 lead with three runs in the fifth. Thompson doubled and, after AU loaded the bases, scored on an error. After a fielder's choice re-loaded the bases, junior first baseman Sophia Chiavatti (Tustin, CA/Foothill) singled home Shaffer and senior shortstop Nicole Maher (Newark, DE/Caravel Academy).
 
After Medaille drew to within two with a pair of runs in the bottom of the frame, Alfred put the game out of reach with five in the top of the sixth. After AU loaded the bases with no outs, Maher singled to plate freshman Lea Georgatos (Emerson, NJ/Immaculate Conception) and Thompson. Shaffer singled to drive in senior outfielder Samantha Jauregui (Lindsay, CA/Lindsay) and, after Maher came home on a groundout, Chiavatti singled to bring home Shaffer and close out the scoring.
 
Chiavatti was 3-for-4 with three RBIs and Maher was 2-for-4 with two runs scored and two driven in to pace the Saxons. Thompson and Shaffer each had two hits and scored three times.
 
Sophomore pitcher Kerri Keeler (Jamesville, NY/Jamesville-DeWitt) went four innings, allowing a pair of runs on five hits and striking out three to improve to 7-6. Freshman Dominique D'Andrea (Waterford, NJ/St. Joseph) pitched the fifth and sixth, allowing an unearned run on three hits before sophomore Shannon Schaefer (Westfield, NJ/Westfield) finished up with a 1-2-3 seventh.
 
In the second game the Saxons took a 2-0 lead in the first when Jauregui walked ahead of a two-out, two-run home run by sophomore Haley Powers (Newark, DE/St. Georges Tech).
 
The Mavericks tied the game with a pair of runs in the second before AU took the lead for good with three in the third. Maher singled and freshman catcher Lu Krawczyk (West Seneca, NY/West Seneca) reached on a dropped third strike before senior second baseman Dana Torchia (Pompton Plains, NJ/Pequannock Twp.) was hit by a pitch with two outs to load the bases. Junior Brooke Hockeborn (Horseheads, NY/Horseheads) walked to bring in a run and junior outfielder Hannah Lawrence (Spencer, NY/Spencer-Van Etten) singled to drive in two more.
 
Medaille scored a run in the bottom of the third to make it 5-3, but the Saxons responded with three in the fourth to take an 8-2 lead. Thompson walked and Jauregui singled to put runners at the corners for Maher, who doubled to bring both runners home. After Powers walked, Chiavatti singled to drive in Maher. AU scored five in the seventh to blow the game open. Lawrence led off with a single and Thompson walked before Jauregui singled to plate Lawrence, with Thompson coming home on an error. Powers singled home Jauregui and Krawczyk doubled home Powers before Torchia singled with two outs to bring home Krawczyk with the game's final run.
 
Jauregui (three runs, one RBI) and Lawrence (one run, two RBI) each went 3-for-5 for the Saxons. Powers was 3-for-4 with two runs scored and three driven in, while Maher had two hits, drive in a pair and scored twice.
 
Schaefer earned the complete game win to improve to 9-4. She allowed three earned runs on six hits while striking out eight and walking one over seven innings.
 
AU returns to action Saturday, April 23, for a 1 p.m. Empire 8 Conference doubleheader against visiting Nazareth.