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ALFRED, NY – The Alfred University softball team tuned up for its crucial weekend Empire 8 Conference doubleheader with St. John Fisher with a non-league sweep of visiting Oswego State, Wednesday afternoon at Harrington Park.
 
AU won the opener, 8-0 in five innings, before taking a 5-3 victory in the nightcap. With the sweep, the Saxons improve to 24-10 on the season.
 
In the opener, AU scored a run in each of the first three innings before ending the game with a five-run fifth that gave the Saxons the eight-run rule win. AU senior shortstop Nicole Maher (Newark, DE/Caravel Academy) had two base hits to give her 172 for her career, a new school record. Maher, who recently set a new school mark for career doubles, broke the career hits record of 171 set by Jesika LaBarron (2007-10).
 
Maher led off the first inning of the opener with a single and came home on a one-out double by senior second baseman Dana Torchia (Pompton Plains, NJ/Pequannock Twp.). Junior outfielder Brooke Hockeborn (Horseheads, NY/Horseheads) singled with two outs and scored on a double-error by Oswego's catcher. In the third, Torchia doubled with one out, advanced to third on a single by sophomore third baseman Haley Powers (Newark, DE/St. Georges Tech) and scored on a sacrifice fly by junior pitcher Sophia Chiavatti (Tustin, CA/Foothill).
 
Hockeborn hit a bases-loaded double in the fifth to score three. Senior first baseman Julie Canova (Maspeth, NY/Mary Louis Academy) walked and Maher brought Hockeborn and Canova home with a double to right-center to put AU up 8-0 and end the game.
 
Hockeborn was 2-for-3 with two runs and three RBIs to pace the Saxon bats. Maher was 2-for-4 with two runs batted in; Torchia hit two doubles, scored a run and drove in one; and senior catcher Jasmine Picini (Alexandria, VA/West Potomac) was 2-for-3 and scored once.
 
In the second game, AU starting pitcher, sophomore Shannon Schaefer (Westfield, NJ/Westfield), was knocked from the game on her second pitch, when she was hit by a line drive. The Oswego batter came around to score later in the inning to give the Lakers a 1-0 lead.
 
Alfred took the lead with a pair of unearned runs in the third. With two outs, Torchia and Maher reached on errors and Powers singled to load the bases for Chiavatti, whose single to left-center plated Torchia and Maher to give the Saxons a 2-0 lead. The Saxons added a pair of runs in the fourth to take a 4-1 lead. Hockeborn walked with one out and freshman Lea Georgatos (Emerson, NJ/Immaculate Conception) doubled her home. Georgatos stole third and came in to score on an RBI single by senior outfielder Samantha Jauregui (Lindsay, CA/Lindsay).
 
Oswego cut its deficit to two with a run in the fifth, but AU answered in the bottom of the frame on Picini's solo homerun to left-center. Oswego closed out the game's scoring with a run in the sixth before going down in order in the seventh.
 
Chiavatti earned her second win of the doubleheader, going seven innings and allowing two earned runs on six hits while striking out three. Picini and Georgatos each went 1-for-3 with a run and an RBI; Jauregui was 2-for-4 with a run batted in; and Chiavatti was 1-for-3 with a pair of RBIs,
 
AU returns to action Sunday, May 1, when the Saxons host St. John Fisher in a 1 p.m. Empire 8 doubleheader. A split or sweep with Fisher would clinch the Saxons a berth in the conference championship tournament. AU would be seeded fourth in the four-team tournament, set for May 6-8 at top-seeded Ithaca College. The winner of the tournament earns the Empire 8's automatic bid to the NCAA playoffs.