Loretto, Pa. (May 12, 2022)--Maggie Kane sprinted home for the winning run on a Mariah Godde sacrifice fly to pace second-seeded Mount St. Mary's to a walk-off 3-2 victory over third-seeded Fairleigh Dickinson in the opening round of the Northeast Conference Tournament held at Saint Francis University's Red Flash Softball Field on Thursday afternoon.   With the win, the Mount advances in the winner's bracket to face top-seeded Saint Francis University tomorrow at 10:00 a.m. with the winner advancing to Saturday's championship game.

It was Fairleigh Dickinson (24-24) who got off to the good start, scoring twice in the top of the first inning off Mount starter Amanda Berkley.  After a one-out Cassidy Triska base hit, Jess DeWitt doubled down the right field line to plate Triska with the first run.  Hailey Ramburg added an RBI base hit to drive home the second run for a 2-0 FDU lead.  Courtney Mahoney followed with a single to put runners on the corners, but Berkley retired the final batter of the inning on a lineout to short. 

Mount St. Mary's (26-20) evened the score in the bottom of the third inning.  Brianna Manni led off with a double, and Bridgette Gilliano provided the big hit, a two-out, two-run blast to left field to make it a 2-2 game. 

From there, Berkley was in control, retiring 16 Knight batters in a row heading into the top of the seventh inning.  In the seventh, Ramburg drew a walk to open the inning, but Berkley got the next batter to pop out on a bunt attempt for the first out.  The Mount defense then came through as Godde turned a double-play on a line drive to set up the Mount's heroics in the bottom of the seventh.

Kane drew a leadoff walk to open the bottom of the seventh, and she moved to third on a Fairleigh Dickinson throwing error.  Godde then hit a short fly ball down the right field line in foul territory with Kane tagging up and easily beating the throw home for the winning run.

Berkley improves to 14-6 on the season with her complete game victory.  She allowed just the four hits while and two earn runs with three strikeouts in the game.  Tori Bowles led the Mount with a pair of hits in addition to Manni's double and Gilliano's home run.