PITTSFORD, NY – Host and 10^th-ranked St. John Fisher swept an Empire 8 Conference doubleheader from the Alfred University softball team Saturday afternoon.
 
The Saxons (16-16, 7-7 Empire 8) dropped the opener, 7-0, and fell in the second game, 1-0.
 
In the opener, Fisher scored five runs on just one hit in the first, and tacked on a pair of runs in the second. Alfred relievers, junior Shannon Schaefer (Westfield, NJ/Westfield) and first-year Jillian Murray (Eden, NY/Eden) held the Cardinals scoreless over the final four frames, but the Saxons could muster only five hits while being shut out for just the fifth time this season.
 
Senior Sophia Chiavatti (Tustin, CA/Foothill) went 2-for-3 for the Saxons, while senior Liz Thompson (Horseheads, NY/Horseheads) (double) and sophomores Lea Georgatos (Emerson, NJ/Immaculate Conception) and Amanda Shaffer (Sandyston, NJ/Kittattinny Regional) each had one hit.
 
Junior pitcher Kerri Keeler (Jamesville, NY/Jamesville-DeWitt) started for AU and faced six batters before Schaefer replaced her with the bases loaded and no outs and Fisher up 3-0. Schaefer wound up going three innings and allowing two earned runs on four hits and striking out two. Murray pitched the final three frames and allowed no runs on two hits. Keeler took the loss, allowing five earned runs on one hit to fall to 3-8.
 
In the second game, first-year pitcher Jessica Wilcox (Forestville, NY/Pine Valley) allowed just a third-inning run and fell to 2-1 on the season. She gave up five hits and struck out two over six innings of work.
 
AU is in action next on Monday, April 24, when the Saxons take on visiting SUNY Geneseo in a 3 p.m. non-league doubleheader.