Box Score 1 | Box Score 2


HACKENSACK, N.J. – Looking to secure a spot in the Northeast Conference tournament with four games to go, the Fairleigh Dickinson softball team split a home doubleheader against league-leading Robert Morris on Saturday afternoon. With the results, the Knights move to 14-18 (8-6 NEC) on the season, while the Colonials are now 23-19 (11-1 NEC) overall. FDU maintains a hold of fourth place in the league standings with two games to play but three teams are in the hunt of the final two postseason spots, as well, and two schools have an additional two contests remaining.
 
"Our team battled today and found a way to win game two," Head Coach Candi Letts said after the contests, "That win was huge when it comes to qualifying for the NEC Tournament. Megan [Reiner] pitched a very good game and allowed our hitters an opportunity to win."
 
Nicole Sleith has enjoyed a fantastic senior campaign and kept it up with yet another complete game effort, allowing just four hits, one earned run, and no walks while striking out 10. Sleith would have collected another shutout if not for Madelaine Wilen (Bakerfield, Calif./Ridgeview High School)'s sixth inning home run.
 
Wilen's home run broke the FDU program record for most in a career, the junior doing it in three years with 17. It's also a single season career-best eight on the year, which slots her in second on that list.
 
Classmate Loren Stavrou (Long Beach, Calif./Wilson Classical High School) started for the Knights and worked out of a two out, bases loaded jam in the first inning followed by a clutch swinging strikeout with two runners in scoring positions and two outs in the second.
 
The Colonials broke through in the third frame with two run-scoring hits with two outs. Alexis Schwartzmill's single scored Kristen Gabelt  and Samantha Santillo's two-run double proved to include the eventual game-winning run.
 
Tess Apke's two-run home run in the fifth gave the visitors a 5-0 advantage while Sleith had held FDU hitless through four innings up to that point.
 
Courtney Slye (Mission Viejo, Calif./Capistrano Valley High School) broke up the no-hitter with a single in the fifth but was not advanced and Stocks added to Robert Morris' lead with a solo shot in the next inning. Wilen's one-out blast in the sixth would be FDU's lone run and the game would end, 6-1.
 
Stavrou went the distance for a fourth consecutive start but falls to 4-8 overall.
 
Sleith remained in the circle for game two but she was now opposite FDU senior Megan Reiner (Los Angeles, Calif./John Marshall).
 
The Colonials struck first with a brief two-out rally in the first frame, with Haileigh Stocks singling to center field and Gabelt doubling her home, 1-0.
 
The two pitchers exchanged 1-2-3 innings until the fourth when FDU was able to knot the contest up at one. Angelique Nieves (Union City, N.J./High Tech High School) led off the frame with a single and advanced to second on a throwing error. Bryana Dorado (Oxnard, Calif./Oxnard) sacrificed Nieves over to third base for Madison Lerma (Escondido, Calif./Escondido), who Sleith was able to strike out. Slye worked a full count walk and Cheryl Lopez (Staten Island, N.Y./Tottenville) took a 1-0 pitch to right field to score Nieves, although Slye was thrown out at home.
 
Apke doubled to start the fifth and Schwartzmill's single moved her over to third. Reiner was able to work out of the jam by inducing a pop-up and foul out, both to the shortstop Alex Portesi (Chino, Calif./Don Antonio Lugo).
 
An inning later, Portesi took the first pitch she saw to start the sixth and deposited it over the centerfield wall for the go-ahead home run. Sleith set down the next three FDU batters in order but Reiner did the same to clinch the doubleheader split.
 
Reiner moves to 10-6 with the win and has now hit double-digit victories in two straight seasons and three of her four at FDU. Sleith drops to 19-9 on the season but still maintains an era below 1.50.
 
"It's a sign of a good team when different players step up at key moments. This team has done that throughout the season. Alex [Portesi] had the best at bat of her career at FDU with a game-winning home run off one of the NEC's top pitchers." Letts said.
 
The Knights will host Sacred Heart on Sunday, April 26, in their final two NEC regular season contests. It will also be senior day where five players will be honored pregame. Catch all the action on NEC Front Row.