Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 Game 1 | Game 2 | Updated stats
PITTSFORD, N.Y. -- Visiting Nazareth dropped a pair of closely contested softball games Friday at St. John Fisher as the Cardinals rallied to scored twice in the bottom of the eighth inning of game two to take a 5-4 victory. The Cardinals also defeated Nazareth in the first game, 10-8. Fisher improved to 14-4 overalll and 2-2 in the Empire 8. Nazareth is 3-11 overall and 0-4 in conference play.

Nazareth lost twice despite hitting three home runs -- one by Maureen Rogers in the first game and two by Sophia Rhoades in the second game.

Fisher scored four times in each of the first two innings of the first game to take an 8-0 lead. Nazareth battled back to score two runs each in the fourth and fifth innings and four more in the seventh. Rogers and Sarah Cipperly each had three hits. It was back-to-back doubles by Rogers and Cipperly in the fourth that plated Nazareth's first run. Carly Pike followed with a single to score Cipperly.

Two more runs came home in the fifth after a walk to Morgan Ross and a two-run homer to left field by Rogers. Fisher scored twice in the bottom of the fifth to go up 10-4, before Nazareth staged a seventh-inning rally that fell short. Singles by Rogers, Cipperly and Rhoades loaded the bases with one out. All three moved up on a wild pitch, then a double by Shauna Bardanis scored two more runs. Sarah Papponetti added a run-scoring single to bring the tying run to the plate, but Kailey Ritch grounded out to end the game.

The second game was tied 3-3 and went to extra innings. In the top of the eighth, Rhoades blasted a solo home run to center field for her second bomb of the game to give Nazareth a 4-3 lead. The Cardinals, however, rallied to win the game with two runs in the bottom of the eighth on the strength of three hits, including a two-run single by Jennifer Knaak to end the game.

A solo home run by Rhoades in the second inning and a run-scoring double by Pike in the third staked Nazareth to a 2-0 lead, before Fisher rallied with single runs in the third and fifth to tie the game at 2-2. Nazareth regained the lead in the sixth on a single by Pike and an RBI double by Rhoades. Fisher tied the score again with a run in the bottom of the sixth.

Nazareth is home Saturday to play Houghton in a doubleheader. The first game starts at 1 p.m.