PITTSFORD, N.Y. – Playing for the first time in the Rochester metropolitan area, the University of Rochester split a softball doubleheader with ninth-ranked St. John Fisher College on Wednesday afternoon. The host Cardinals won the opener 2-0 and Rochester took the nitecap, 1-0 in 11 innings, despite not getting a base hit.
 
The split gives Rochester a mark of 3-9 with 11 of the 12 games coming against teams either ranked in the NFCA Division III poll or among others receiving votes.
 
Fisher's Lindsay Thayer out-dueled Rochester's Hannah Leahy in the opener. She threw a three-hit shutout with 17 strikeouts and two walks. Leahy scattered 10 hits, walked one, fanned four, and allowed only one earned run in her six innings.
 
Elizabeth Bourne got the win in game two. She relieved Leahy after one batter in the ninth. In three innings, she did not allow a baserunner and she struck out one to pick up her first win of the season.
 
Both SJFC runs came in the first inning of game one. Katie Mazierski singled but was thrown out trying to stretch it. Julia Sortisio walked. Sammie Torlish singled and when the ball was misplayed, both runners advanced a base, putting people at second and third. Leahy got a strikeout before Emily Trotman singled both runs home, the Torlish run unearned.
 
Rochester threatened in the second. With one down, Lydia Petricca singled, took second on a fielding misplay, and went to third on a wild pitch. Thayer fanned the next two to end the inning.
 
Leahy settled in, stranding eight baserunners over the next five innings. With one down in the UR seventh, Jocelynn Blackshear doubled to left center. Pinch-hitter Jen Carson struck out as did Sammi Re.
 
Game two was a good pitcher's duel as well. Leahy started for Rochester and went the first eight innings – six hits, four walks, two strikeouts. She stranded 10 over the first seven innings. She left the bases loaded in the second. In the Fisher seventh, with the score still 0-0, she faced another challenge. Sortisio doubled. Alexa Montemayor reached on an infield single to short with Sortisio holding at second. Torlish singled to load the bases. Leahy fanned Sarah Kubik for the first put. Trotman flied out to centerfield and Sortisio was doubled off third when she left too early to try and tag up.
 
Thayer relieved Monica Moses after eight innings (no hits, nine strikeouts, three walks for Moses). Thayer fanned three in three innings and allowed the unearned run.
 
In the Cardinal ninth, Marissa Kirker singled. Leahy departed, replaced by Bourne. Harleigh Kaczegowicz promptly picked off Kirker, throwing the ball to Jessica Conforti. Bourne finished the inning with two groundouts. Neither club could take advantage of the tiebreaker in the 10^th. Fisher got a runner to third with one down, but Bourne induced a popup and a groundout.
 
Conforti was placed on second to start the UR 11^th. She was bunted to third by Ann Marie Cortes. Marissa Russo bunted the run home and reached first base. She stole second and moved to third on Re's groundout. Thayer fanned Kaczegowicz to end the inning.
SJFC had Trotman on second to start its 11^th. After a flyout, she moved to third on an infield groundout. Bourne struck out pinchhitter Jill Murray to end the game.