Moon Township, Pa. (March 29, 2015) – The Mount St. Mary's softball team completed the first weekend of Northeast Conference action with a pair of losses at Robert Morris on Sunday afternoon at the North Athletic Complex. The Mount fell in game one, 7-3, and dropped the second game by an 11-6 margin.

Rachel Teti (Mt. Air, Md.) knocked two home runs to lead the offense with Niki Gonzalez (Tucson, Ariz.), Tori Belloc (Casa Grande, Ariz.) and Rachel Heinze (Charlotte Hall, Md.) all finishing with one home run apiece.

"Today, we put up a good fight against one of the best pitchers and teams in the conference," Mount St. Mary's Head Coach Anna Nagro said of her team's effort. "Even though we came out on the losing side, I saw a lot of good things happen, one being our offense. This team is full of fighters who always play hard."

With the losses, the Mount falls to 6-19 on the season and 1-3 in the NEC, while Robert Morris improves to 14-12 and 2-0 in conference play.

GAME ONE: Robert Morris 7 – Mount St. Mary's 3

Home runs were the story in Robert Morris' 7-3 game one win with the Mountaineers and Colonials combining for five homers, three of which were hit by the Mount.  

RMU's Kristen Gabelt kicked off the day with a two-run homer in the bottom of the first inning to give the home side a 2-0 lead. The advantage quickly grew to 4-0 in the third when Gabelt knocked a solo home run to left center, with Haileigh Stocks adding an RBI single up the middle four batters later.

Needing an answer, the Mount's hitter stepped up with solo home runs on three-consecutive at bats to storm back into the game. Teti began the run with a shot over the fence in right center, and Gonzalez followed suit with a home run to right center as well. Belloc completed the stretch with a knock to left to cut the Colonials' lead down to 4-3.

Mount's starting pitcher Marian Ruf (Mesa, Ariz.) found herself in a jam in the bottom of the fifth with the bases loaded and two outs. Stocks delivered a two-RBI single up the middle, and Samantha Santillo followed with an RBI single through the left side of the infield.

The Mount put together one final scoring chance in the top of the seventh, putting runners on first and second with two outs but could not convert to cut into RMU's lead.

Nicole Sleith hurled a complete game to earn the victory for the Colonials, giving up three runs on eight hits with eight strikeouts. For the Mount, Ruf also went the distance, striking out two batters and yielding four earned runs on nine hits to take the loss.

GAME TWO: Robert Morris 11 – Mount St. Mary's 6

The Mount led game two by a 4-1 score through an inning and a half before the Colonials exploded for eight runs in the second, never looking back in an 11-6 victory to sweep the doubleheader.

After Robert Morris scored a single run in the bottom of the first, Teti led off the top of the second inning with her second home run of the day to level the score at 1-1. Three batters later with runners on first and second, Heinze unleashed her third homer of the season for a 4-1 Mount St. Mary's lead.

Momentum quickly swung in the Colonials favor with an eight-run second inning on four home runs. Another two-run homer by RMU in the fourth extended the home team's lead to 11-4.

The Mountaineers continued to fight, getting back two runs in the fifth on back-to-back RMU errors after the Mount had loaded the bases to cut the deficit to 11-6, but that was as close as the Mount would get to completing a comeback.

For the Colonials, Sleith fanned another nine batters in a complete game in the circle with four earned runs on nine hits. Sam Lichtner (Morgantown, Pa.) posted 4.1 strong innings out of the bullpen, giving up two runs on two hits for the Mount.

UP NEXT: The Mount hosts Cornell on Tuesday, March 31, for a home doubleheader at Our Lady of the Meadows Field. Games are set for 3 p.m. and 5 p.m.