Updated Stats
ROCHESTER, NY – The Nazareth softball squad strung together two late-inning rallies to earn a sweep of Alfred State Saturday afternoon on Senior Day. Nazareth won game one 9-4 behind four RBI from
Stephanie Mongelli and edged the Pioneers 6-5 in the second contest.
Nazareth moves to 19-13 overall on the year, while Alfred State drops to 4-24.
Nazareth closes out its regular season on Sunday, traveling to RIT for 1 p.m. doubleheader.
Game 1 – Nazareth 9, Alfred State 4
Mongelli went 2-for-4 with two doubles and four RBI to fuel the Golden Flyers offense.
She wasted no time getting things started, roping a double to score two, giving Nazareth a 2-0 lead.
In the fourth inning,
Rachel Mertens pushed
Nicole White home with a two-out single in the infield to make it 3-0.
White kept the Pioneers off the board in the fifth, mowing down the final batter of the inning to leave runners stranded on second and third.
Alfred State eventually cracked through in the sixth, mustering five of their 10 hits in the game to go ahead 4-3. After getting the first batter out, the Pioneers loaded to bases. A walked run in and two singles gave the visitors a 4-3 lead.
The Golden Flyers rallied with six runs in the bottom half to take control 9-4 behind three hits and two errors.
Sarah Papponetti notched an RBI and
Marissa Tortora brought in a run. Later in the inning, Mongelli rocked her second two-RBI double.
White earned the win to move to 9-6 on the season, striking out nine in the game.
Tortora and White were each 2-for-4, while Mertens was 2-for-3.
Game 2 - Nazareth 9, Alfred State 4
Trailing 5-4 in the sixth, Nazareth scored two runs to earn the come-from-behind win for the second-straight game. Simmons, who went 3-for-4 in the game, singled in the inning to even the score at 5-5. The very next batter, Papponetti reached on a fielder's choice and
Delaney St. George scored the winning run on a throwing error from the shortstop.
The Pioneers threatened in the seventh, getting two runners into scoring position with one out. Mertens, however, induced back-to-back groundouts to seal the victory. With the win, Mertens earned her 10
th win of the season (10-5) – she allowed four earned runs, while striking out three. She was also 2-for-3 from the plate with an RBI.
Papponetti launched her second home run of the season, a two-run shot in the first inning to open the scoring. The Golden Flyers added another later in the frame for a 3-0 advantage.
Alfred State got two runs back in the fourth, only to see the Golden Flyers respond with run of their own. Mertens led off the inning with a double and scored on a wild pitch to up the lead to 4-2.
A three-run fifth helped Alfred State re-gain the lead 5-4 before Nazareth rallied.
