Box Score 1 | Box Score 2

NEW BRITAIN, Conn. – Laura Messina hurled back-to-back complete games, including one shutout, and the Fairleigh Dickinson softball team dropped both contests at Central Connecticut State on Sunday, the first day of Northeast Conference action. With the victories, the Blue Devils improve to 13-7 (2-0 NEC) on the season, while the Knights fall to 3-11 (0-2 NEC) overall.
 
"We played two hard-fought games and came up short," Head Coach Candi Letts said, "We hit the ball hard and know we've made strides in the right direction."
 
Messina kicked off the day with two straight strikeouts and three total before allowing a Bryana Dorado (Oxnard, Calif./Oxnard) two-out double in the second. The junior ended the frame with Cheryl Lopez (Staten Island, N.Y./Tottenville) looking.
 
Tori Constantin's solo home run in the bottom of the second proved to be all the support Messina would need.
 
The Knights got two more baserunners on over the next three innings before Messina finished the contest with seven straight outs.
 
Megan Reiner (Los Angeles, Calif./John Marshall) allowed two solo shots and walked in a pair in the fourth and it was just the first time this season, out of seven starts, that the senior hasn't completed a game. She fell to 3-5 on the season.
 
Loren Stavrou (Long Beach, Calif./Wilson Classical High School), who pitched a perfect seventh inning in game one, received the start in game two and began with two more scoreless innings, with only one hitter reaching on an error.
 
FDU broke the deadlock first with a pair of solo home runs from Emma Deluca (Vernon, N.J./Vernon Township High School) and Madelaine Wilen (Bakerfield, Calif./Ridgeview High School) in the third. The former ties her single-season best mark from her freshman campaign with two this year so far, while Wilen has now hit four out of the yard in 14 contests.
 
CCSU struck back in the bottom of the inning and took the lead, 5-2, after batting around. Stavrou walked the leadoff hitter, Keyes, who was then bunted over to second. A Camara single moved Keyes to third and the Blue Devils pulled off a double steal to cut the deficit in half.
 
Another sacrifice moved Camara to third with one out. Kat Malcolm's RBI single tied the game up at two before Eileen Purcell broke the game open with a two-run go-ahead blast.
 
Two Blue Devils reached on an error and a walk and Hannah Cooper added an unearned insurance run with a single, 5-2.
 
Dorado and Madison Lerma (Escondido, Calif./Escondido) started the fourth off with back-to-back doubles to make it 5-3 but after Courtney Slye (Mission Viejo, Calif./Capistrano Valley High School) singled, the Knights were set down in order.
 
Lopez replaced Stavrou in the circle and set down CCSU in order in her first inning of work but allowed the final run of the contest in the next frame on a Constantin RBI single scoring Malcolm.
 
Stavrou dropped to 0-4 on the season, while Messina improved to 10-3 with her two victories on the day.
 
The Knights have less than 24 hours off as they travel to Wagner tomorrow, Monday, March 30, for a doubleheader that was postponed due to weather conditions on Saturday. NEC Front Row will carry live video coverage.