Nazareth College Athletics

GENESEO, NY (nazathletics.com) - Fourth-seeded Nazareth Softball dropped its 2026 Empire 8 Championship Tournament opener to No. 3 Alfred, 3-2, in extra innings Thursday afternoon at SUNY Geneseo's Raschi Softball Field. 

HOW IT HAPPENED 

• The Golden Flyers struck first in the third inning as Alexis Brown singled, stole second, moved to third on a wild pitch and later stole home for a 1-0 lead.
• Amanda Linnenbrink kept the Saxons off the board through the first four innings, retiring seven straight batters from the final out of the first through the fourth inning while Nazareth held the one-run advantage.
• Nazareth threatened for insurance in the fifth after Ashley Bell and Ruby Marrapese singled and Bryanna Moroughan drew a walk to load the bases with two outs, but the inning ended on a lineout to center field.
• Alfred tied the game in the bottom of the fifth on a sacrifice bunt that led to an error, allowing the tying run to score unearned and even the game at 1-1.
• The Golden Flyers answered immediately in the sixth inning when Morgan Russo singled and later scored on Caitlyn Knapp's RBI single to left field, giving Nazareth a 2-1 lead entering the late innings.
• Linnenbrink worked out of trouble in the sixth after Alfred put runners on the corners with two outs, inducing a groundout to third base to preserve the lead.
• Alfred tied the game again in the seventh after a leadoff walk and sacrifice bunt put the tying run in scoring position before an error with two outs brought home the equalizer to force extra innings at 2-2.
• Nazareth put the go-ahead run aboard in the eighth on Haleigh Suitor's single, but a line-drive double play ended the threat before Alfred walked off the game on a solo home run in the bottom of the inning for a 3-2 final.

GAME NOTES

• Haleigh Suitor led the Golden Flyers at the plate, going 2-for-4 with two singles. The performance is her 15th multi-hit game of the season. 
• In her first game back from injury, Amanda Linnenbrink threw 7.2 innings, allowing three runs, one earned, on six hits. She drops to 4-6 on the season with a 3.09 earned run average.

UP NEXT
Nazareth moves onto its next game in the double elimination style tournament tomorrow, Friday, May 8, against the hosts, No. 1 SUNY Geneseo. Start time is slated for 9 a.m. at Raschi Softball Field.

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