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ELMIRA, N.Y. -- Visiting Nazareth benefitted from the four-hit pitching of junior
Rachel Mertens to gain a split in an Empire 8 Conference softball doubleheader Sunday. Mertens earned her seventh pitching win of the season in a 6-0 win in the second game of the doubleheader. Elmira rallied to win the first game, 6-5.
Nazareth is 13-11 overall and 1-5 in conference games. Elmira is 3-7 in the Empire 8 and 5-7 overall.
In scattering four harmless singles over seven innings, Mertens also finished with two strikeouts. Nazareth, meanwhile, pounded out 18 hits in the victory, including three each for senior
Morgan Ross and freshman
Madison Zeis. Every batter in the lineup had at least one hit, including senior
Maureen Rogers, who smacked a solo home to lead off the top of the third inning.
Nazareth scored once in the first inning on singles by Ross and
Sarah Papponetti and a double by
Carly Pike. After Rogers' homer in the third, Nazareth added another run on singles by Mertens abnd
Marissa Tortora and an infield grounder by Zeis.
The Golden Flyers broke the game open with three runs in the sixth. Tortora had a run-scoring single and
Delaney St. George chased home another run with a double. The final run came home on a sacrifice fly by
Meghan Barry.
Nazareth also had 12 hits in the first game, but came out on the short end of the one-run score as Elmira plated the tying the winning runs in walk-off fashion in the bottom of the seventh inning. Mertens, Pike, Ross and
Stephanie Mongelli each had two hits for Nazareth.
Nicole White pitched and took the loss despite allowing just two earned runs.
Trailing 5-4 entering the bottom of the seventh, Elmira used three hits and two Nazareth fielding errors to win the game. Miranda Keefe scored the trying run for the Soaring Eagles following a single by Maddy Johnson. Elmira eventually loaded the bases with no outs with Emily Carlin at the plate. On the Carlin at bat, Nazareth catcher
Taylor Turcsik noticed Julianne Heggie had drifted too far from third base and saw a chance to get a quick out. Turcsik fired the ball over to third, but the throw was too high and flew over the head of Pike at third base, allowing Heggie to slide into home for game-winning run.
Nazareth had scored all five of its runs in the third inning on six hits. Ross drove home Barry with the first run, then Ross and Papponetti later scored on two-run single by Mongelli. St. George later added a two-run double to give Nazareth a 5-0 lead.
Nazareth plays its next eight games away from home, starting with a non-conference doubleheader at Buffalo State Tuesday, starting at 3 p.m. Nazareth also visits St. John Fisher Wednesday, Alfred State Thursday and Alfred University Saturday.
