The Fairleigh Dickinson University softball team split with visiting Manhattan on Wednesday afternoon as the Knights earned a 4-3 win on a walk-off hit by Elizabeth Woidt before falling, 10-8, to the Jaspers as Amanda Berrios had a two-shot home run in the top of the eighth inning to break open a tie game.
The Knights improve to 12-28 on the season, while the Jaspers move to 15-17-1.
In the first game, Kristen Kinneer (Pottstown, PA/St. Peter's) scored on a sacrifice fly to right field by Caitlin Bradac (Garden Grove, CA/Garden Grove) to put the Knights on the board in the bottom of the first inning. But Nicole Michel sent the first pitch of the at bat over the left field fence to tie the score in the second.
Jaci Rahey's home run in the fourth inning gave the Jaspers a 2-1 lead, but FDU knotted the score in the bottom half of the inning. Mikayla Fernandez (Mission Viejo, Calif./Mission Viejo) singled through the left side and a bunt from Bradac advanced her. Lauren Hamilton (Woodinville, WA/Woodinville)'s sacrifice bunt pushed Fernandez across the plate.
The Jaspers broke the tie in the top of the sixth inning as Melissa Donnelly started things off with a single to left field. Rahey singled to right field and advanced on a throwing error, which scored Donnelly.
Brianne Benedict (Alliance, OH/West Branch) started the seventh inning with a single to left center. Dana Walker (Middletown, DE/St. Marks), who was pinch hitting, pushed the ball out to left field to move Benedict, the game-tying run, to third base. Liz Woidt (Binghamton, N.Y./Binghamton) came up to bat with the tying run at third and the winning run at first and shot a double down the right field line to give FDU the win, 4-3.
Fernandez finished the game 2-for-3 with a double, while Woidt was 2-for-2. Bradac earned the win on the mound, scattering six hits in seven innings, allowing two earned runs and striking out nine.
The Jaspers grabbed a 3-0 lead in the top of the third inning, but the Knights put up a pair of runs in the bottom of the fourth to make it a one-run game. Fernandez and Bradac drew back-to-back walks and advanced on a passed ball. Benedict lined out to the short stop and Fernandez scored on an error and Alex Schubert had an RBI single to center field.
In the fifth inning of the second game, Donnelly and Rahey had back-to-back doubles before Michel, Ashley Rampino and Kelly Murray had three-straight home run shots, with Michel pushing three runs across the plate. The Jaspers took hold of an 8-2 lead.
The Knights bounced back in the bottom of the fifth inning with six runs, including a two-run single to center field by Fernandez and a three-run home run by Schubert.
But in the top half of the extra inning, Berrios had a two-run shot to put the Jaspers up and the Knights were unable to respond in the bottom half, falling 10-8 to split the doubleheader.
Fernandez was 2-for-3 with a walk, two runs scored and two RBI. Schubert was 2-for-2 with four RBI and two walks. Benedict was 2-foro-4 with two RBI and Hamilton was 2-for-4 with a run scored.
"I thought that we had good hitting and continued to fight back all day long," said Head Coach Dale Martin. "We were very resilient and were able to put runs together."
"I think that getting five runs with two outs is great, I was happy with that as well as that we bounced back to get six runs after giving up a big inning. I would have liked to have been on the winning side of the second game, but we just need to work on our execution."
