ALFRED, NY – The Alfred University softball team swept an Empire 8 Conference doubleheader with visiting Nazareth College Saturday afternoon at Harrington Field. AU won the opener, 14-0 in five innings, and edged the Golden Flyers, 4-1, in the second game.
 
In the first game, Alfred (20-10, 7-5 Empire 8) sent 11 batters to the plate in the first, with the first seven reaching base and scoring, as the Saxons took an 8-0 lead after an inning. AU scored three in the second and third innings and held Naz scoreless in a game stopped after five innings.
 
In Alfred's big first inning, junior first baseman Liz Thompson (Horseheads, NY/Horseheads) had a hand in the first and last run the Saxons scored in the frame. She led off with a single and scored  on a bases-loaded walk, then capped the scoring with a two-run home run over the left field fence. Senior catcher Jasmine Picini (Alexandria, VA/West Potomac) had a three-run double in the inning.
 
In the second, senior outfielder Nora Passuite (Lockport, NY/Lockport) had an RBI groundout and junior outfielder Hannah Lawrence (Spencer, NY/Spencer-Van Etten) belted a two-run single. In the third, senior shortstop Nicole Maher (Newark, DE/Caravel Academy) hit an RBI triple to score Thompson, and sophomore Haley Powers (Newark, DE/St. Georges Tech) doubled home Maher and later scored on a sacrifice fly by Picini.
 
Thompson finished 3-for-4 with three runs and two RBIs. Maher and Powers (two RBIs) each scored three runs; Picini drove in four; and Lawrence was 2-for-3 with three runs driven in.
 
Sophomore pitcher Shannon Schaefer (Westfield, NJ/Westfield) earned the five-inning shutout, allowing five hits and striking out a pair.
 
In the second game, Alfred scored two runs in each of the first two innings, all with two outs, to take a 4-0 lead. In the first, Maher and Powers hit back-to-back singles with two outs and scored on a triple to right-center by senior second baseman Dana Torchia (Pompton Plains, NJ/Pequannock Twp.). In the second, Passuite reach on an error with two outs and Thompson and senior outfielder Samantha Jauregui (Lindsay, CA/Lindsay) singled to load the bases for Maher, who brought both home with a single.
 
The four runs were more than enough for sophomore pitcher Kerri Keeler (Jamesville, NY/Jamesville-DeWitt), who held Nazareth off the scoreboard until the seventh, when the Golden Flyers plated an unearned run. Keeler allowed just five hits while striking out five to improve to 8-6.
 
Maher finished 3-for-4 with a run and 2 RBIs, while Thompson and Powers each had two hits and scored once.
 
AU is in action next on Monday, April 25, at 3 p.m. for a non-conference doubleheader at Hilbert College. The Saxons have two non-league home doubleheaders next week – Tuesday at 3 p.m. against Oswego and Friday at 3 p.m. against Keuka – before hosting rival St. John Fisher in a key E8 doubleheader on Sunday, May 1, beginning at 1 p.m.