Box Score 1 | Box Score 2

MOON TOWNSHIP, Pa. -- The Fairleigh Dickinson softball team concluded the regular season on Sunday with a doubleheader sweep over Robert Morris in Northeast Conference action at the North Athletic Complex. The Knights won the opener, 4-1, before taking the nightcap, 6-0. With the sweep, FDU increases its win streak to a season-high six games, finish in a tie for second place in the NEC standings and improve to 21-19 (11-5 NEC) on the season, while the Colonials conclude their year with an overall record of 24-25 (5-11 NEC).
 
Freshman Cheryl Lopez (Staten Island, N.Y./Tottenville) (2-1) went the distance in game one for the Knights en route to earning her first career complete game. She allowed one unearned run, scattered six hits, walked four and struck out one.
 
Geena Badolato took the loss in the circle after going the distance as well. She allowed four runs, one earned, on five hits, walked one and struck out five.
 
Robert Morris took an early 1-0 lead in the bottom of the second with two outs after freshman Alex Portesi (Chino, Calif./Don Antonio Lugo) committed an error at her shortstop position, which allowed a runner to score.
 
But Portesi redeemed herself in the top of the third as her one-out RBI single to center field plated sophomore Emma Deluca (Vernon, N.J./Vernon Township High School). On the play, the center fielder did not feel the ball cleanly, which allowed sophomore Madelaine Wilen (Bakerfield, Calif./Ridgeview High School) to score and put FDU in front, 2-1.
 
Three innings later in the top of the sixth, the Knights added a pair of insurance runs to extend their advantage to 4-1. With one out, junior Angelique Nieves (Union City, N.J./High Tech High School) doubled home fellow classmate Cindy Zamudio (Wilmington, Calif./Redondo Union), who singled to start the inning. Nieves then took third when the right fielder had trouble fielding the double. Freshman Madison Lerma (Escondido, Calif./Escondido) followed with a RBI sacrifice fly to center field to plate Nieves.
 
The runs were more than enough for Lopez, who retired six of the final seven batters she faced.
 
In game two, senior Samantha Lemm (Berlin, N.J./Eastern Regional High School) took the ball in the circle and shined for the Knights, as she recorded her first career complete-game shutout. Lemm (2-5) scattered five hits, walked three and struck out two in the victory.
 
FDU scored two runs in the top of the first off Colonials' starter Haileigh Stocks, as junior Bryana Dorado (Oxnard, Calif./Oxnard) drove home Portesi with a RBI groundout, before Nieves plated Zamudio with a two-out RBI single up the middle.
 
The Knights would then score four times with two outs in the top of the fourth to increase their lead to 6-0. Zamudio singled home redshirt senior Liz Woidt (Binghamton, N.Y./Binghamton), and with the bases loaded, Dorado cleared them with a three-run triple that plated sophomore Julia Northcutt (Irvine, Calif./Northwood High School), Wilen and Zamudio.
 
Lemm would work out of jams over the final four innings, as the six runs were more than enough to clinch the victory. Zamudio, Lerma and Woidt each had two hits to pace FDU's nine-hit attack, with Zamudio adding two runs, while Dorado collected four RBI.
 
Stocks also went the distance for Robert Morris in the loss. She allowed six earned runs on nine hits, walked four and struck out three. Ashley Gerhart led the offense with three of the Colonials' five hits.
 
Next up for the Knights is the four-team Northeast Conference Tournament, which will run from May 8-10 on Bryant's campus in Smithfield, R.I. FDU will be the third seed and will face the second seed, Central Connecticut, who won the tiebreaker over the Knights because of its doubleheader sweep earlier in the season. Check back to www.fduknights.com for more information about FDU's first-ever appearance in the NEC Tournament.