HACKENSACK, N.J. - On a beautiful Saturday afternoon in Northern New Jersey, the Fairleigh Dickinson softball team welcomed in first place Saint Francis U (Pa.) for a three-game series, kicking things off with a doubleheader at FDU Softball Field.

FDU turned to senior left-hander Alayna Savaglio to handle the pitching in game one of the set to begin the afternoon. The Middletown, N.Y. native tossed her 11th complete game of the season allowing two runs (one unearned), the first of which came in the first inning at the hands of the second batter of the game for the Red Flash. Savaglio had tremendous offensive output behind her and a little help from misfortunes suffered at the hands of the Saint Francis U defense which opened up the scoring in the third inning for FDU to tie the game at 1-1 as second baseman Jess DeWitt reached first on an error, moving center fielder Courtney Mahoney to third and scoring left fielder Riley De Laval who marked her return to the Knights' starting lineup after an extended stay on the injured reserve.

With the bases juiced and two out, freshman catcher Sabrina Javorsky earned a walk to cross Mahoney over home plate and put the Burgundy and Blue up 2-1 in the bottom of the third inning. In the following frame, FDU would put up another pair of runs, this time by way of a two-run homer for shortstop Cassidy Triska, scoring third baseman Jillian Ward in the process. A Northeast Conference Player of the Week this season, Triska hit another two-run round-tripper in the second game and leads the Knights with 10 home runs on the year.

Up four runs heading to the fifth frame, Savaglio sat the Red Flash down in order to retire the side though Chris Foye's side would do the same in the bottom half. In the sixth, a dropped foul ball proved to be costly for the Knights as Jordan Pietrzykoski would later reach first on a single to shallow center field as a result of the prolonged at-bat, later moving to second following a sacrifice bunt and a pair of wild pitches to make it a 4-2 ballgame. 

FDU would hold on for the 4-2 victory, handing the Red Flash just their third NEC loss of the season and giving the side plenty of momentum heading into the nightcap as the Knights went for the series victory.

Quite simply, game two was all FDU as the Knights rolled SFU in the second of the twin bill. Allowing a hit in the top of the first with one out, junior Malori Bell got out of trouble early retiring the following two batters to get the Knights' offense at the plate. Back-to-back singles off the bats of Triska and Mahoney would get a runner in scoring position for FDU with some assistance from a wild pitch that advanced Triska to third and Mahoney to second. A four-time NEC Rookie of the Week, DeWitt would break open the scoring affair with an RBI single to right field, scoring Triska.

Moving from designated player to first base for the second game, rookie Andreya Flores would produce a productive ground out to second base for the Knights, scoring Mahoney giving FDU a 2-0 lead. SFU would tack on a run courtesy of a solo homer by Olivia Ulam, cutting FDU's lead in half though not for long.

Sabrina Javorsky scored Mahoney in the following frame, off a grounded to short for her 16th RBI of "Sleeveless Javo's" maiden season. Triska would blast another two-run shot in the fourth to score LoriAnne O'Connor and secure the Knights' 5-1 victory over Saint Francis U.

With the pair of wins, FDU moved to 19-19 on the season, 11-6 in NEC play, while the Red Flash dropped to 27-16, 13-4 in conference action.
       

Record Keeping

With the Knights' 33 home runs this season, the side has eclipsed the previous program-high mark of 30 home runs in a single campaign (2013).

The Knights conclude the series with SFU on Sunday, April 24, at 12 p.m. at FDU Softball Field live on NEC Front Row before closing non-conference play next Thursday, April 28, at Saint Peter's.