It was a wild day of softball action in the area.
SCSU lost to Molloy 7-3 in 15 innings in the Super Regional at Yale on Friday.
With the loss, Southern needs to win twice on Saturday to advance to the Division II College World Series.
While Southern was defeated, Quinnipiac won twice on Friday to move to the Northeast Conference title game.
Quinnipiac beat Monmouth 4-1in the first game of the day and then beat host Robert Morris 4-3 in 12 innings.
Senior Ashley Heiberger (Sioux Falls, S.D.) lifted a sacrifice fly in the top of the 12th inning on Friday afternoon to send the #2 seeded Quinnipiac University softball team past #1 Robert Morris, 4-3, in a thrilling Northeast Conference Semifinal match-up in Moon Township, Pa.
With the win, the Bobcats advance to the tournament finals tomorrow afternoon, taking on #3 LIU Brooklyn at 12:30 p.m. QU needs to defeat the Blackbirds twice in order to hoist the trophy at the end of the day and earn the NCAA berth.
With the game knotted a three apiece after regulation, Quinnipiac (32-17) and Robert Morris (35-22) played several scoreless innings until the top of the 12th frame. Alex Alba (Sylmar, Calif.) led off the inning with a base-hit and moved on over to second on a sacrifice bunt from Mina Duffy (Piedmont, Calif.). Nikki Barba (San Diego, Calif.) prolonged the rally with a base-hit and then stole second base, leaving second and third with one out. Heiberger laced a 2-2 pitch into center field, allowing Alba to come across for the go-ahead run. Heather Schwartzburg (Mission Viejo, Calif.) kept the Colonials off of the scoreboard in the last half, propelling the Bobcats into the Championship game.
Katie Alfiere (Beacon Falls, Conn.) and Schwartzburg combined to go all 12 innings in the circle for the Bobcats. Alfiere, who started the game, allowed one run on three hits over 2.1 innings of work. Schwartzburg relieved Alfiere and pitched the rest of the way. She went 9.2 innings, allowed seven hits, two runs (0 earned) and struck out 11 for her 20th win of the season.
The elimination contest featured a pair of scoreless innings to begin the seven-inning affair. However, in the top of the third inning, Quinnipiac got the bats going to generate the game’s first runs. Lauren Salgado (Covina, Calif.), Christy Cabrera (West Sacramento, Calif.) and Jacquie Ristow (Seal Beach, Calif.) each reached base with consecutive singles to load the bases. Alba stepped into the batters’ box and lined a base-hit up the middle for a 1-0 lead, followed by a one-out, base-knock from Barba for a 2-0 lead. The Bobcats tacked on one more when Courtney Kesses (Woodbridge, Conn.) was hit by a pitch, leaving a 3-0 advantage after the top half of the inning.