DELAND, Fla. - Coming off a brilliant 2-0 day to open the Frank Griffin Classic and welcome in the 2023 season, FDU softball (2-2, 0-0 NEC) suffered the Knights' first two losses of the infant season Saturday, facing Dayton for the second time and taking-on Providence for the first of two this weekend against the Friars.

Head coach Chris Foye turned to the bench to round-out the Knights' lineup on the middle day of the three-day event looking to etch a two-game sweep of the Dayton Flyers. Moving things around in game two of the afternoon, FDU was able to get the bats moving but it was the Providence offense that did the trick, lifting the BIG EAST member to a 7-5 win to stomp on the Burgundy and Blue comeback attempt in the visitor's seventh.
 

Dayton Recap

After toppling the Flyers on day one, FDU tossed sophomore right-hander Payton Wagner for the Simi Valley, Calif. first start of the season in her second apperance. The lone FDU hit of the day would come in the top of the first inning when reigning NEC Rookie of the Year Jess DeWitt singled up the middle, though the San Diego, Calif. native would be erased on the following play as senior Cassidy Triska grounded into a double play to end the inning. After gaining a pair of outs to start her day, Wagner would surrender a home run to Dayton's Alyssa Cacini to give the designated home team a 1-0 lead early on.

Limiting the early damage to just the one run,  Wagner would get out of the next two innings with no further damage on the line score, as the Flyers would hold-on to win it by a 1-0 final. After Cacini's round-tripper, Dayton would go on to tally five more to round-out their afternoon. Senior southpaw Alayna Savaglio came on in relief of the sophomore to pitch 2.1 innings, striking out five of her eight batters faced.
 

Providence Recap

Despite the bats unable to get going for the early morning start, the nightcap against Providence was an offensive bonanza as the Knights would tack on five runs on five hits with no errors. Before the Friars put up a four-spot in the fifth inning, FDU held an early 1-0 lead as senior Courtney Mahoney scored off a situational ground-out by sophomore Andreya Flores to break open the scoring one out in the first frame. Mahoney, from Allenwood, N.J., would have her hand in three of FDU's five runs scored as she officially went 1-for-2 with one run scored, a run batted in and a walk batting second in Foye's lineup.

Two innings after getting the Knights on the board, Mahoney flied out to center, sacrificing her at-bat to score junior Megan Berg to give her team a 2-0 lead. Providence would answer back with two runs in the following inning, evening things up at two runs a piece. Triska would hit an RBI single in the fifth to score yesterday's hero, sophomore Isabella Herring, to shift the lead back to the Knights, though it would be short lived as the Friars answered back with two more runs in the bottom half of the inning.

Sophomore Julia Swan made the start, her first of the season, tossing four complete innings with a strikeout. She was relieved by yesterday's game two starter, senior Malori Bell, in the fifth. Bell would record two strikeouts, facing 12 batters over her two innings.
 

Quotable

"The team is playing well unfortunately we just ended up on the wrong end of two close games today," said Foye. "We are looking to rebound on a positive note tomorrow with a getaway win."
 

What's Next

FDU closes their time in the Sunshine State with the final game of the season series against Providence at 10 a.m. at Patricia Wilson Field with the action available live on HatterVision via YouTube.

Connect with FDU softball on Twitter and Instagram, @FDUKnightsSB.