HOUGHTON, NY – Sophomore
Jessica Wilcox (Forestville, NY/Pine Valley) broke the Alfred University softball single game strikeout record with 13 strikeouts against Houghton College on Wednesday evening while the Saxons (16-6, 4-0 Empire) nabbed two Empire 8 wins on the road.
Wilcox, who racked up 10 strikeouts yesterday in game one against Lycoming College, broke the school record for strikeouts in a game previously held by
Liz DeFranco (1994 vs. Nyack),
Brittany Curran (2005 vs. Simmons) and
Chelsey Cary (2010 vs. D'Youville) who each had 12 strikeouts in a game. She currently ranks second in the Empire 8 Conference with 89 strikeouts in 2018. With the win, she moves to 8-3 on the season, tied with senior teammate
Shannon Schaefer (Westfield, NJ/Westfield), who both rank second in the Empire 8 in wins. Wilcox leads the Empire 8 in earned run average (1.22) while Schaefer is ranked third (1.71).
Schaefer also threw a complete-game shutout on Wednesday, notching seven strikeouts, zero walks and allowing only three hits.
AU as a team continued to roll, moving the tally to nine consecutive wins sweeping the Highlanders 7-0 and 1-0. The Saxons have not allowed an earned run since the sixth inning of the first game against Clarkson on April 2, 2018, marking 35 consecutive innings without an earned run.
Senior
Haley Powers (Newark, DE/St. Georges Tech) continued her hitting streak, going 4-for-7 on the day. Sophomore
Elena Ceja (Redondo Beach, CA/Redondo Beach Union) also stayed hot, grabbing an RBI in each game, including the game-winner in the nightcap, pushing first year
Sydney Saucedo (Whittier, CA/La Serna) across the plate.
Game One
The opening four innings were quiet, as both pitchers kept the opposing teams off balance and off the scoreboard. Wilcox did not allow a hit until the bottom of the third inning and struck out at least two Highlanders in each of the first four innings.
Finally, the Saxon bats came to life in the top of the fifth inning when Saucedo notched her second of three hits on the night, doubling down the third base line. She was advanced home by a Powers single to right field, breaking the 0-0 tie. Ceja stepped up to the plate after Powers, and crushed a double to right field, scoring Powers from first base. Sophomore
Jillian Murray (Eden, NY/Eden) joined the hit parade, nailing a triple to right center, scoring Ceja and giving AU the 3-0 lead. Houghton made a pitching change before junior
Becca Alexander (Middletown, DE/Middletown) scored Murray on a groundout to short, closing out AU's scoring in the fifth.
With a turn of the lineup, the Saxons returned to score again in the seventh. Powers opened the inning with a double to left field before getting pushed home on yet another triple by Murray. Alexander batted Murray in a batter later, giving AU the 6-0 advantage.
Wilcox took the record-breaking performance to the wire, striking out the final two batters of the game to become the sole owner of the record with 13 strikeouts.
Murray and Alexander led the team on offense with two RBI's while Saucedo and Powers notched three hits each.
Game Two
Continuing off the momentum of the first game, the Saxons scored in the top of the first inning of the second game. Saucedo reached on an error to open the game and was advanced to second on a sac bunt by Murray. Powers also reached on an error, pushing Saucedo to third before Ceja grabbed her eighth RBI of the season on a single to right field.
From there, the Saxons relied on Schaefer who has not allowed an earned run since the seventh inning of game two against Nazareth College on March 31, 2018. She allowed only one earned run in that game.
Schaefer began Wednesday's game by sitting the Highlanders down in short-order in each of the first three innings. She finally allowed a hit in the bottom of the fourth, and relied on her defense to save a run at home following some small-ball by Houghton.
Following the fourth inning, she allowed only one more hit (single), taming the bats of the Highlanders down the stretch.
"It's always a great day when you sweep a conference doubleheader," Head Coach
Luke Wesneski said. "Another great performance by our pitchers and we had just enough offense today to get the wins. Our defense was superb today and we needed that with our lack of run production. We are looking forward to three-straight conference doubleheaders moving forward."