WEEHAWKEN, N.J. (April 21, 2012) – The Stevens Institute of Technology softball team lost two Empire 8 games with St. John Fisher College on Saturday, 3-0 and 7-1. Sunday's conference games against Nazareth have been postponed, and are tentatively rescheduled for Friday, April 29 at a site to be determined. Senior Day will now be held May 2 against Old Westbury.

Game One

The Ducks survived a leadoff walk in the first, and then loaded the bases in the bottom half of the inning but came up empty on the scoreboard. Fisher pushed a run across with one hit in the second inning to take a 1-0 lead.

The Cardinals used the same formula of a free base to lead off the inning (a dropped third strike) coupled with a sacrifice bunt to put up another tally in the third inning.

Stephanie Senkevich (Washington, N.J.) stroked a one-out single up the middle in the fourth for just the second Stevens hit against Fisher starter Danielle Leone (Manchester, Conn.).

Again in the fifth, Fisher put their leadoff batter on, sacrificed her to second and plated her with two outs to increase their cushion to 3-0.

Stevens threatened in the fifth as Lauren Hurley (Sparta, N.J.) led off the frame with a walk and Stevens pitcher Kayla Berardi (Brookfield, Conn.) singled with two down to put runners on the corners, but Leone shut the door to preserve her shutout.

With Stevens needing three to force extras in the seventh inning, Hurley led off with a line double off the first baseman's mitt. Pinch hitter Noelle Mulligan (Staten Island, N.Y.) then knocked a humpback liner that seemed destined to land in short rightcenter and bring the tying run to the plate with nobody out. But Fisher second baseman Megan Zoerb (Painted Post, N.Y.) made a great running catch and doubled the runner off second to end the rally and ultimately seal the win for the visitors.

Game Two

Danielle DeFeo (Andover, N.J.) led off the Stevens first with a basehit bunt that hugged the thirdbase line. Taking a page from the Cardinal playbook, Kendel Aurand (McVeytown, Pa.) moved her to second with a bunt and Clair Strom (El Paso, Texas) hit a clutch two-out RBI single to give Stevens its first lead and its first run of the afternoon.

Pitcher Brianna Sandone (Haddon Twp., N.J.) confounded the Cardinals over the first three innings, highlighted by her escape from a two-on, no out jam with a flyout and ensuing 9-2-5-6 rundown that ended the frame.

Aurand nearly made a great play in right field to save a Fisher run in the fourth, but the Cardinals got a run to tie the game at one apiece. In the fifth, tough luck on a pair of fielder's choice plays and an infield single helped the Cardinals take a three-run lead, and a homerun off the bat of Sarah Fordyce (Jordan, N.Y.) made the score 7-1.

Berardi came in relief with one down in the fifth and retired the last eight Fisher batters of the game to keep the score within reach for the offense until the end. But Cardinal starter Sarah Stefanon (Perry, N.Y.) was solid down the stretch and did not allow a run after the first.

The SAAC Rubber Duck giveaway originally scheduled for Sunday at the softball games has been moved to the women's lacrosse game against No. 6 TCNJ on Tuesday.

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