ALFRED, NY – The Alfred University softball team swept a doubleheader from visiting 22^nd-ranked St. John Fisher Saturday afternoon at Harrington Field, in the final Empire 8 Conference games for both teams.
 
In the opener, AU claimed a 1-0 victory, clinching a berth in the four-team Empire 8 Championship Tournament, which opens Friday at Ithaca College. In a wild second game, Fisher scored eight sixth-inning runs to take a 12-11 lead before AU tied it with a run in the seventh, then scored in the ninth to earn a 13-12 victory.
 
With the sweep, AU moves to 26-10 on the year (9-5 E8), while Fisher falls to 30-8 (10-4 E8).
 
In the first game, Alfred sophomore pitcher Kerri Keeler (Jamesville, NY/Jamesville-DeWitt) outdueled Fisher standout hurler Lindsey Thayer. Keeler scattered four hits and struck out four to improve to 9-6 on the year.
 
Thayer, the nation's leader in strikeouts with 295 coming in, fanned 15 AU batters and allowed just one hit. But one hit was all the Saxons would need, as junior Liz Thompson (Horseheads, NY/Horseheads), leading off the bottom of the first, belted a 1-2 pitch off the left field foul pole for a solo home run.
 
That was all the run support Keeler would need, as she held the Cardinals in check, stranding eight runners. Fisher threatened in the fifth, loading the bases with two outs before Keeler induced a pop-up to third to end the inning. Fisher's Jennifer Knaak doubled leading off the sixth, but Keeler retired the next three batters, then set the Cardinals down in order in the seventh.
 
AU used the long ball to jump ahead in the second game, answering Fisher's two-run first. In the bottom of the frame, sophomore Haley Powers (Newark, DE/St. Georges Tach) blasted a three-run shot over the fence in left-center to drive in senior outfielder Samantha Jauregui (Lindsay, CA/Lindsay) and senior shortstop Nicole Maher (Newark, DE/Caravel Academy), who had each singled.
 
Alfred plated two more in the second. With one out, junior outfielder Brooke Hockeborn (Horseheads, NY/Horseheads) singled and one out later Jauregui singled to put runners on first and second. Maher singled home Hockeborn and Powers followed with a single to bring home Jauregui. In the fourth, Thompson and Jauregui singled ahead of Maher's three-run home run to left-center, which game the Saxons an 8-2 lead.
 
Fisher plated a pair of unearned runs in the fifth off junior Sophia Chiavatti (Tustin, CA/Foothill) -- helped by three AU errors -- to pulled within four runs, at 8-4. The Saxons responded with three runs in the bottom of the frame. Thompson led off the inning with a single and came round to score on a Powers groundout. Senior second baseman Dana Torchia (Pompton Plains, NJ/Pequannock Twp.) singled Maher home and then scored on a double to center by senior catcher Jasmine Picini (Alexandia, VA/West Potomac) to make it 11-4.
 
Fisher sent 11 batters to the plate in the sixth, scoring eight runs (five earned) to go up 12-11. The Cardinals had five hits in the inning and benefitted from three AU errors.
 
Down to their last out in the seventh, Powers worked a two-out walk and moved to second on a wild pitch before scoring on a Torchia double to knot the game at 12-12.
 
After a scoreless eighth, Keeler, who came on in relief of Chiavatti to start the seventh, set the Cardinals down in the ninth. Jauregui singled with one out in the bottom of the ninth and raced home from first on Maher's double to right-center, giving the Saxons the win. The RBI was the 124^th of Maher's career, breaking the school record of 123 held by Jesika LeBarron (2007-10).
 
Maher was 4-for-6 with three runs and five RBIs and Powers had two hits, scored twice and drove in five for the Saxons. Jauregui was 5-for-6 and scored four runs and Torchia had three hits, scored once and drove in two. Jauregui's five hits tied the AU single-game record held by Jessica Snyder and Stephanie Arguello.
 
Keeler pitched three scoreless innings of two-hit ball in relief of Chiavatti, striking out two to move to 10-6 on the year. Chiavatti allowed 10 runs (three unearned) in seven hits. She came on in the fourth in relief of sophomore starter Shannon Schaefer (Westfield, NJ/Westfield), who went three innings, allowing two unearned runs on three hits.
 
Alfred has a non-league doubleheader at 3 p.m. on Tuesday, May 3, against visiting Keuka College ahead of next weekend's conference championship tournament. The Saxons will be seeded fourth and will play top-seeded host team Ithaca on Friday. Fisher will play Utica in the other opening-round game of the double-elimination tournament, the winner of which earns the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA playoffs.