GENESEO, NY – The No. 3 seeded Alfred University softball team advanced in the Empire 8 Softball Championship Tournament, hosted by No. 1 seeded SUNY Geneseo, with a 3-2 walk-off win over No. 4 seeded Nazareth University on Thursday.
The Saxons (26-13) were behind the Golden Flyers (25-12), 2-1 going into the bottom of the seventh inning. They put up one run in the seventh and one in the eighth to earn the walk-off, advancing victory.
Naz was first on the board with a score in the top of the third after a failed pickoff attempt. The Saxons responded with a tying run in the bottom of the fifth when
Paris Guzman (Santa Fe Springs, CA/Santa Fe) laid down a sacrificed bunt to advance
Ally Boulger (Mukilteo, WA/Kamiak) to second base. Boulger turned to get to third base and eventually to home on a bad throw from the Naz catcher, who was trying to get Boulger out on a rundown play between second and third.
The Golden Flyers kept the advantage by scoring a single to left field in the top of the sixth.
In the bottom of the second, Boulger walked to get on first and then got to second on another sacrificed bunt from Guzman. She then reached home with two outs on the board when
Brielle Wark (East Amherst, NY/Williamsville East) reached first on an error that gave Boulger the opportunity to score again, tying the game up at 2-2 and forcing extra innings.
In extra innings, the Saxons faced another two-out situation with no one on base.
Kendall Steward (Kennedy, NY/Randolph) swung at the first pitch and smashed it over the center field fence for the game-winning home run. Steward had two hits on four at-bats.
Steward pitched 6.0 innings and recorded four strikeouts.
Ava Galvan (Santa Fe Springs, CA/Santa Fe) came in to pitch the final 2.0 innings and recorded one strikeout.
The Saxons will next face the No. 2 seeded St. John Fisher University on Friday, May 8 at 11:30am.
--Swords Foward Saxons--
