HACKENSACK, N.J. – The Fairleigh Dickinson softball team rebounded from a one-run loss in the first game of its doubleheader against Lafayette to win the later game, 4-2, and earn a split for the afternoon.
The Knights (13-32) fell in nine innings, 3-2, in a tightly contested first game but then bounced back with two late-inning rallies in the nightcap to hold off the Leopards (8-32-1). Freshman
Courtney Mahoney earned her first career pitching victory, allowing only one run on four hits in five innings while striking out three batters. She also hit a ground ball deep in the infield that allowed the Knights to score a go-ahead run in the fifth inning. Freshman
Amarys Miller-Godsey later provided what proved to be the winning runs with a RBI double in the sixth inning.
Junior
Erica Johnson came on in relief of Mahoney to earn her first save of the season, allowing two hits and one run while striking out one. She also relieved senior
Baylee Ports in the first game, recording the final out of the ninth on a strikeout after Ports went 8.2 innings while allowing four hits and two earned runs to go with eight punchouts.
Junior
Madison Emerson and freshman
Riley De Laval each had two hits in the opening game, while senior
Reanna Cervantes went 2-for-3 with a RBI single in the victory after hitting a solo home run in the first game.
Senior
Serena Meehan extended her hitting streak to 10 games with a base hit in the seventh inning of the first game, but she was unable to record a hit in the second game, which ended her streak.
In the first game, sophomore
Logan Kolehmainen singled and Emerson also followed with a base hit in the Knights' half of the first frame, but the two hits represented the lone base runners through the first three innings. Lafayette then had their first runner reach on an error, and the runner later scored on a sacrifice fly to give the Leopards a 1-0 lead.
Cervantes then smacked her fourth home run of the season (19th of her career) in the bottom half of the inning to tie the game. Lafayette, however, answered back with a run on a RBI groundout to go up 2-1 in the fifth inning.
Down to their final chance at-bat, Meehan started a late rally for the Knights with a bunt single down the third base line, and after moving to third on two straight outs, De Laval tapped a slow grounder back to the pitcher and beat out the throw to first, allowing Meehan to score and tie the game at 2-2.
The game went to extra innings with neither team pushing a run across in the eighth, but the Leopards produced a double and a single in the ninth that led to a run. Emerson singled to start the Knights' turn in the ninth, but the next three batters were retired to end the game.
Lafayette also started the second game with a 1-0 advantage, but Cervantes again was quick to erase the deficit with a RBI single up the middle that scored sophomore
Rylie Schmeh in the first inning.
Mahoney then set down 12 of the next 15 batters she faced before the Knights rallied for a run in the fifth inning. Senior
Holly Mercier started the inning with a single up the middle, and Miller-Godsey then reached on an error and stole second. De Laval then walked to load the bases, and Mahoney then hit a ground ball that the Lafayette shortstop turned into a double play. Mercier, however, scored to make it 2-1 in favor of the Knights.
Johnson retired the Leopards in order in the sixth, and in the bottom half of the inning, Emerson and Cervantes singled in back-to-back at-bats. After the next two batters recorded outs, Miller-Godsey lined a double to the left field wall that plated both runners to make it 4-1, giving Miller-Godsey her sixth double along with her 12th and 13th RBI of the season.
The Leopards would get one run back in the top half of the seventh, but Johnson then shut the door by striking out a batter with runners on first and third and one out. The next batter then tapped a grounder to first that Emerson fielded, stepping on the first base bag to end the game.
The Knights return to Northeast Conference play for their final three doubleheaders of the regular season, traveling to Wagner on Saturday for a 1 p.m., start before hosting Saint Francis U and Robert Morris the following weekend.
