ALFRED, NY – The Alfred University softball team took NCAA Division II D'Youville University to extra innings in the first game of Wednesday's non-conference double-header to end in a walk-off error before dropping a seven-inning decision in the nightcap at Harrington Field.
 
The Saxons (10-9, 2-0 Empire 8) defeated the Saints (15-9, 4-2 ECA) in game one, 2-1 before dropping a 6-0 decision to the visitors on Wednesday. "We appreciate D'Youville traveling to play us today it was a great challenge for our team and we are extremely excited that we are able to grab a game one win as the girls competed hard and we finally won a one-run game which is something we have been struggling with," Head Coach Luke Wesneski said. "D'Ville is a well coached and very fast team and I thought our defense stepped up to the challenge today. We still need to work on getting our bats to produce a little more consistently but overall we saw a lot of good things today. We will be excited to travel to Fisher on Friday."
 
Game One
Alfred University – 2  |  D'Youville – 1
 
Megan Bennett broke a collegiate career-high inside of the circle as she struck out 10 batters while only walking one and hitting one, giving up six hits and one earned run. D'Youville's pitcher, Lauren Booth had only five strikeouts but two walks and five hit batters without being credited with an earned run in the game.
 
The Saxons struck first in a neck-to-neck race to be first on the scoreboard after four and a half innings of play when Meghan Neto (Miami, FL/Doral Academy Charter) singled to right, center field to bring Mya Wells (San Ramon, CA/California) home from second base. AU looked in good scoring position again in the inning as Gillian Flint (Caledonia, NY/Caledonia-Mumford) pinch-ran for Neto and stole second. Tatiana Mejia (North Hills, CA/John F. Kennedy) singled short to the pitcher, putting runners on first and second. Allison O'Toole (Simi Valley, CA/Simi Valley) walked to load the bases but two pop-ups closed out the inning with Saxons on each bag.
 
In the next top inning, the Saxon defense put themselves in a good position to close out the sixth as a shot straight to Ashley Lugo (Hesperia, CA/Oak Hills) was snagged out of the air as she turned and fired to first base for the double-play as the Saints' runner never got back in time. A double and a single RBI knotted the score at 1-1 before AU got out of the inning.
 
During extra innings, D'Youville loaded the bases after a pop-up to catcher, Mara Moore (Torrance, CA/West High), looking to score. Another pop fly to Moore and Bennett's 10^th strikeout of the day closed out the inning with three stranded Saints.
 
D'Youville intentionally-walked Molly Lawson (Rancho Santa Margarita, CA/Trabuco Hills) which ultimately spelled doom for the opener game. AU loaded the bases right after Moore reached first on an error from the third baseman, who hesitated to try to tag O'Toole who ran from second base, having started the inning there due to the international tiebreaker rule. Isabella Carrillo (Van Nuys, CA/Birmingham Community Charter) got on base as the Saints threw O'Toole out at home, making third base the standing point for Lawson with Moore on second and Carrillo at first.
 
Lugo stepped into the batters' box and sky-rocketed a shot just outside of the infield dirt where D'Youville's shortstop had all the time to get the second out of the inning. The catch was dropped and the frantic scramble to recover it gave Lawson the time needed to cross home plate to earn the walk-off win over the Division II squad.
 
Carrillo led the offense with a 2-for-4 outing. Lugo was credited with three of the Saxons' five stolen bases.
 
Game Two
Alfred University – 0  |  D'Youville – 6
 
Wednesday's evening game was only the second game of the season that Alfred University was shutout, despite getting five hits including a double from O'Toole and a first-pitch, first at-bat triple from Lugo.
 
The tempo of the game remained the same as the opener as the score remained zeroes going into the top of the third where D'Youville earned their first lead of the day. The top of the fourth was when the scorecard started to fill up as the Saints got four runs in, pushing the needle more in favor of them. The tacked on one more run in the top of the fifth as Mikaela Perez (Pomona, CA/Diamond Ranch) accepted only her second loss of the season. Arden Hatch (Orangevale, CA/St. Francis) came in for relief in the top of the fourth to close out the game with two strikeouts.
 
The Saxons will next travel to Empire 8 nemesis and Championship runner-up, St. John Fisher College on Friday, April 8 for a 3:00pm double-header game one start.