LOUDONVILLE, N.Y. – The University of Hartford softball team scored a doubleheader sweep at Siena on Sunday afternoon. The opening game went eight innings with the Hawks prevailing by a 5-3 final while game two took just six innings as the visiting squad pulled out a 9-1 victory over the Saints.

Hartford (14-22), which has won six of its last eight, will continue non-conference action with three mid-week games, starting with a doubleheader on Wednesday at Fairfield. Game one is set to begin at 2:30 p.m.

In game one, the home team grabbed a 2-0 lead in the second inning and held on until Siena (8-21) knotted up the contest in the top of the fifth. After exchanging one run each in the seventh to force extra innings, senior Erica Phelps broke open the tie by driving in the go-ahead run, using a fielder's choice that resulted in all runners being safe. Sophomore Jenice Aloyo added an insurance run, driving home classmate Maggie Betz from third on an outfield single.

With a fresh arm in sophomore Brittany Beebe inside the circle for the save, the Hawks' defense clamped down and kept Siena scoreless in its final at-bats to preserve the lead. The Saints managed to get one runner on base, but Megan Stout, who pinch ran for Chelsea Volz after she connected for a one-out single, was out at second on a fielder's choice. Beebe finished the game off, earning the first save of her career by striking out Ferro.

Zuzana Kudernatschova worked the first seven innings for the Hawks, finishing the contest with five strikeouts, allowing five runs, three earned, on seven hits to improve to 8-10. Her counterpart, Alyssa Lancaster, went the distance for the Saints, conceding seven hits, four walks and five runs while fanning one batter.

After grabbing that 2-0 advantage, Kudernatschova and the Hawks' defense enjoyed four solid innings to start the contest. Despite issuing a pair of walks to the Saints in their first at-bats, Hartford's ace enjoyed a pair of one, two, three innings in the second and the fourth, conceding just one hit in the bottom of the third.

Following the two-run, fifth frame for Siena, Hartford reclaimed its advantage in its final at-bats using a two-out solo home run off the barrel of Kate Wacyk to push ahead, 3-2. The homer was the second for the senior in three games, both of which came in the seventh stanza.

Siena had an opportunity to retaliate in the bottom half of the seventh, and was successful after loading up the bases with just one out recorded. Mandy Ferro singled to start off the frame, and after Shannon Jones was hit by a pitch, Jessika-Jo Sandrini juiced up the paths on an outfield single. The game-tying run for the Saints came on a Lancaster base hit, but the go-ahead run would never be plated as the Saints' attempt of a sacrifice fly was robbed at the plate by the arm of Betz in left field.

In game two, the Hawks scored multiple times in the second, fourth and sixth inning and added a single run in the fifth to grab a commanding nine-run advantage over the Saints, scoring the eventual 9-1 victory.

Timely hitting coupled with a series of Siena errors assisted Hartford's offense while junior Kaitlyn Meade tossed five scoreless innings, allowing just one run on a Sandrini home run in the bottom of the sixth to improve her record to 4-8 with the six-inning triumph.

The Hawks were quick to get runners on all three base paths as Maxwell and Betz earned back-to-back walks with one out in the second, and Phelps singled to left field. That set the scene for the first two runs of the game to be crossed across home play, with Peyton Fisher driving-in Maxwell on a fielder's choice and Betz making it 2-0 by scoring on an error on the play.

The third run on that frame came in on another Siena error. With the top of the order up with no outs, Andrews reached on an error by the Saints right fielder and Phelps scored on the miscue to put the Hawks out in front at 3-0.

The top of the fourth inning played out in a fashion similar to the second with Hartford scratching a pair of runs across home plate using two hits, one walk and an error. Phelps was issued a one-out walk, and following a single from Fisher, she would score on an Andrews' base hit. Another fielding error by the Saints' right fielder brought in Fisher from second on the play, providing the Hawks with the 5-0 lead.

That advantage would grow to 6-0 in the next inning following a sacrifice fly by Maxwell that scored designated player Chelsey Mooney, who started things off with a walk. Andrews, Aloyo and Wacyk would each come across home in the bottom of the sixth on a pair of singles and an infield ground out to provide their team with the commanding 9-1 advantage.

On the afternoon, Wacyk and Maxwell each collected two RBI while Andrews finished 3-for-7 at the plate, scoring twice and driving in one run.