ROCHESTER, NY –
Rachel Mertens pitched a no-hitter to blank Morrisville State 8-0 in five innings, before Nazareth fell 3-2 in game two Saturday in the Golden Flyers home-opening games. The junior is third pitcher in program history to pitch a no-hit game but the first to do so in five innings. Mertens struck out six, while walking two batters. She improves to 4-2 on the year with the win.
The Golden Flyers move to 7-5 overall, while Morrisville improves to 4-6.
Game 1: Nazareth 8, Morrisville 0 (5 innings)Stephanie Mongelli had three RBI in the game for Nazareth. She doubled to right center in the first inning to score Mertens and
Sarah Papponetti.
Later, Mongelli pushed Nazareth's lead to 3-0 in the third inning on a sacrifice fly to bring in
Maureen Rogers.
The Golden Flyers had their biggest inning of the day in the fourth, putting up four more runs to increase their lead to 7-0. Papponetti cleared the bases with a triple and Rogers brought her in on a double as the very next batter.
In the fifth inning,
Morgan Ross singled to right field scoring
Ann Stull to end the game.
Papponetti and Mongelli each finished with three RBI.
Game 2: Morrisville 3, Nazareth 2 The Mustangs broke a 2-2 tie in the top of the seventh inning on a single by Amanda Labe. In Nazareth's final at-bats, the Golden Flyers left two runners on to end the game.
Each squad scored a run in the opening inning. Ross doubled to open up the game. With Ross at third, Rogers reached first base on an error from the first baseman, allowing Ross to score.
The score would remain that way until the sixth inning when both teams added a run to push the score to 2-2. Rogers launched a triple before Mongelli registered her second sacrifice fly of the day to even the score.
Nicole White suffered the loss on the mound to fall to 2-3. She allowed three runs on six hits, while striking out six batters.
Ross went 2-for-4 in the loss.
Nazareth returns to action on Wednesday when it will host Brockport for a doubleheader starting at 3 p.m.
