The Fairleigh Dickinson University softball team dropped two games to Mount St. Mary's on Saturday, April 21. The Knights fell 1-0 and 4-3 in Hackensack, NJ. The Knights move to 25-18 on the season with a 5-11 mark in conference play, while the Mount improve to 13-28 on the year with a 6-8 NEC record.
Game one was paced by the pitchers, as Mount pitcher, Nicole Pagano and FDU thrower, Megan Reiner (Los Angeles, Calif./John Marshall) combined for just one earned run and struck out 19 batters total.
Pagano allowed just four hits on the day and struck out a career-high 11 batters. Reiner struck out eight and allowed five hits.
The difference in the game was a seventh-inning homerun from MSM clean-up hitter, Cat Clifford. With the homer, the Mount took a 1-0 lead.
The Knights recorded consecutive singles by Mikayla Fernandez (Mission Viejo, Calif./Mission Viejo) and Kirsten Shreve (Kent, WA/Kentwood) in the bottom of the seventh to put runners on. The runners advanced on a groundout by Elizabeth Woidt but were left in scoring position when Pagano recorded her 11th strikeout to end the game.
The Mount scored first in game two after loading the bases on three hits. A single to center field scored a run but Shreve's throw prevented any more runs to score.
The Knights responded in the second inning with a string of hits from Jordan Needle (Camarillo, CA/La Reina College Prep), Shreve and Fernandez. Needle scored on the string to tie the game at one.
Mount St. Mary's recaptured the lead with three runs in the bottom of the fifth inning on back-to-back homeruns.
A single from Maria Roney (Anacortes, WA/Anacortes) put a runner on base in the bottom of the sixth. With two outs, Fernandez hit a homerun to center field to drive home two runs. After six full innings, the Knights trailed by just one run, 3-4.
The Knights were unable to produce base runners in the seventh inning and ultimately fell, 3-4.
Maire Shaughnessy (Culpeper, Va./Highland) earned the loss. She allowed four runs on nine hits.
The Knights will travel to Smithfield, RI on Sunday, April 22 for their final road tilt of the season. They will face Bryant in a double-header slated for 12:00 pm.
