ITHACA, N.Y. -- The fourth-seeded Alfred Saxons (37-7) beat the third-seeded Lebanon Valley Flying Dutchmen (34-13) 4-1 Sunday in the NCAA Division III Softball Regional hosted by Ithaca College. With the win the Saxons advance to the championship round to face second-seeded Ithaca; Alfred would need to beat the Bombers twice to win the regional title while Ithaca would need one win to claim the regional championship. Lebanon Valley is eliminated from the tournament.
Nicole Hedrick earned the win for the Saxons and scored the winning run. She gave up seven hits and didn't walk a batter or allow an earned run. She led off the bottom of the first with a single to right, stole second and scored on a sacrifice fly by A Passaro. The Saxons tacked on a second run when third baseman Molly Shepherd, who'd reached on an infield single, scored on an infield error.
The Saxons were held hitless for the next four innings by Lebanon Valley Val Malizza (who finished with four strikeouts in 4.1 innings). They broke through for two more runs in the fifth with A Netta scoring on a wild pitch and Chelsey Cary scoring on an infield groundout. Netta had led off the inning with a single and advanced to third on a two-base outfield error.
The Flying Dutchmen scored their run in the sixth; left fielder Katie Freeman doubled with one out and an outfield error on a single by Steffani Secola allowed pinch-runner Steph Hulme to score.
Shepherd had two of Alfred's four hits. Freeman led Lebanon Valley with a pair of hits.
Laura Snyder, who pitched 1.2 innings of one-hit relief for the Flying Dutchmen, struck out four of the six batters she faced. In the tournament she fanned batters in 18.1 innings of work and did not allow a run.
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