Rochester rode two strong pitching performances and a home run-heavy offense to a doubleheader softball sweep of Nazareth College at Southside Field on Friday afternoon.
The Yellowjackets won the opener, 14-0, in four and a half innings and took the nitecap, 3-2.
Brittany Grage threw a two-hit shutout in game one with six strikeouts and no walks.
Eleni Wechsler surrendered five hits in the second game. She walked four and struck out a collegiate career high 11 hitters.
The sweep boosted Rochester's record to 18-10 overall. The Yellowjackets are ranked fourth in the Northeast Region this week by the NCAA Division III Softball Committee. Nazareth is 8-18 overall.
Rochester hit four home runs in the opener – two by
Lauren Muni, one by Wechsler, and a three-run pinch-hit home run by
Ashley Amidon. In the nitecap, Grage hit a solo shot in the second inning to put the Yellowjackets ahead, 1-0.
Both Grage and Wechsler contributed offensively. In game one, Wechsler drove in three runs. She hit a two-run home run in the first inning (which was followed immediately by a solo shot from Muni) then hit a sac fly in the seven-run fourth inning. She had an RBI single in the fifth inning of game two and that proved to be the winning run.
Grage was 3-3 in game two. She homered in the second, hit a one-out double in the fourth, then doubled again in the sixth. She was stranded both times on the doubles. In game one, she walked in the third inning to keep a rally going and scored on a double by
Alyssa Murillo. In the seven-run fourth that broke it open, she singled.
Tori Poplaski ran for her and scored two batters later when Amidon homered over the center field fence.
Sarah Cipperly had two of Nazareth's five hits in game two. Rochester built a 3-0 lead through five. Grage homered in the second. In the Yellowjacket fifth,
Tayler Fravel doubled with one down.
Meghan Hennessy doubled her home and scored on Wechsler's two-out single up the middle.
The Golden Flyers responded in the sixth. Maureen Rogers doubled down the left field line on Wechsler's first pitch. Cipperly lined a single to left and advanced to second when the ball was misplayed. Rogers scored. Carly Pike doubled to left center on a 3-0 count. That scored Cipperly to trim the Nazareth deficit to 3-2. Sophia Rhoades struck out. Shauna Bardanis bounced out and Pike moved to third. Wechsler fanned Nicole Bayona to end the inning.
Wechsler earned two quick outs in the seventh. Kailey Ritch beat out a grounder to third before Rogers popped up to left field to end the inning.
In six innings, Bayona yielded nine hits and three earned runs. She walked one. Nicole White absorbed the loss in game one. She left in the fourth inning when the Yellowjackets sent 10 hitters to the plate and scored seven runs on six hits.
