HACKENSACK, N.J. – The Fairleigh Dickinson University softball team split a pair of games with LIU Brooklyn at FDU Softball Field on Friday, March 29.  The Knights fell to the Blackbirds, 4-0, in game one before responding with a 5-2 victory in game two.  The win in game two was just the second win for FDU over LIU in program history.  The Knights move to 11-11 on the year with a 3-3 Northeast Conference record, while the 2012 NEC Champion Blackbirds are now 5-29 with a 1-3 conference mark.

“Pitching was solid in the first game, but we didn't come up with timely hits, so LIU deserved to win the game,” said Head Coach Candi Letts.  “In the second game, it was great that we bounced back.  Everyone contributed and we had a lot of confidence.  We are still a work in progress but they were determined to win the second game and it was a good outcome.”

After three scoreless innings, the Blackbirds took a 2-0 lead in the top of fourth on a two-run home run by Nicole Archer.

The Knights were unable to match the Blackbirds through five innings and allowed two unearned runs to score in the top of the sixth to give LIU a 4-0 lead.

The Blackbirds maintained the edge and took game one, 4-0.

The Knights produced six hits in the shutout but allowed LIU to connect for 11 hits.  Freshman Loren Stavrou (Long Beach, Calif./Wilson Classical High School) earned her first loss of the season with two runs on seven hits in four innings on the mound.  Stavrou struck out two and walked no one.  Sophomore Megan Reiner (Los Angeles, Calif./John Marshall) pitched three innings of relief.  She allowed no earned runs, four hits and one walk.

Freshman Madelaine Wilen (Bakerfield, Calif./Ridgeview High School) started game two with a single to left field.  Sophomore Angelique Nieves (Union City, N.J./High Tech High School) drove Wilen home on a double to the center field fence to put the Knights ahead, 1-0 in the first inning.

Although LIU threatened offensively on several occasions, starting pitcher Samantha Lemm (Berlin, N.J./Eastern Regional High School) held the Blackbirds scoreless through four innings.  In the top of the fifth, Madison Green singled to start the inning.  With one out, Karina Cervantes hit a long ball to center field.  Centerfielder, Cindy Zamudio (Wilmington, Calif./Redondo Union) misread the hit and allowed Cervantes to advance on the play.  Green scored to tie the game at one, but a relay from Zamudio to Nieves to Wilen at the plate caught Cervantes on her attempt at an in the park home run.   After five innings of play, the Blackbirds and Knights were tied at one.

In the top of the sixth, the Blackbirds connected two consecutive long singles to drive in one run and take the lead.

FDU responded immediately with a break out sixth inning.

Back-to-back singles by Bryana Dorado (Oxnard, Calif./Oxnard) and Julia Northcutt (Irvine, Calif./Northwood High School) put runners on for Zamudio.  A hit to the short stop was misread, allowing Dorado to score from second to tie the game at two.  Wilen doubled to the centerfield wall to score a second run of the inning before a groundout by Maire Shaughnessy (Culpeper, Va./Highland) and a single from Nieves added two more runs for FDU.  In all, the Knights added four runs on four hits and an error to take a 5-2 lead after six innings.

The Blackbirds rallied with two hits in the final inning but could not add more runs, giving way to a 5-2 FDU win.

Stavrou earned the win as a relief pitcher to move to 4-1 on the season.  She allowed three hits and no earned runs.  Lemm pitched 5.1 innings, allowing one earned run on seven hits with one strikeout.

Collectively, the Knights produced nine hits in the win, while giving up 10 hits to the Blackbirds.

Overall, Nieves and Wilen paced the Knights offensively against the Blackbirds.  Nieves went 5-for-6 with a double, two RBI and a walk in her first two games in Hackensack.  Wilen went 4-for-7 with a double and one RBI.

The Knights break from Northeast Conference action to take on the Lions of Columbia on Tuesday, April 2.  The double header in New York City is slated for 3 p.m.