By Derek Turner
A doubleheader sweep for the CCSU softball team against Northeast Conference rivals St. Francis (PA) ended an uneventful spring break for the Blue Devils.
Jordan Tingley and Elizabeth Montemurro each earned complete game one-run victories in their efforts on Sunday.
Tingley earned her fourth win of the season while striking out three Red Flash batters and allowing five runs, three of which were earned. In game two Montemurro allowed four runs, none of them earned, and struck out four.
Sophomore Kelsey Barlow led the offense in the first game with three runs batted in including a two-run homerun in the bottom of the fifth to cut the Red Flash lead to one. In the bottom of the sixth, centerfielder Rebecca Mussatti knocked in two with a single up the middle to give the Blue Devils a 6-5 lead, a score they would hold onto for the win.
Freshman first baseman Tessa Brown had a hand in all five runs for CCSU in game two. She walked in the first and came around to score on an RBI single from catcher Kat Knowles. In the CCSU fifth inning Brown doubled to right centerfield scoring Ariel Bruno and Sarah Emery. Barlow followed with a double to left, driving in Brown.
In the top of the sixth St. Francis went on a rally of their own, but fell one run short for the second straight game with CCSU sweeping the doubleheader by a score of 5-4.
With the two wins, CCSU starts off NEC play with a 2-0 record in the conference and are now 10-9-1 overall. The lady Blue Devils take on Princeton Wednesday March 30 in New Jersey and return home on Saturday April 2 to play NEC opponent Fairleigh Dickinson in a 1 p.m. doubleheader.