Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 HAMPTON, Va. – The University of Hartford softball team opened up its 2014 season at the Hampton Invitational on Saturday, falling in a pair of games to Saint Joseph's (3-2) and Columbia (1-5). The Hawks conclude play in their first tournament of the year with a pair of games on Sunday, starting with an 11 a.m. contest against Columbia and finishing the afternoon with a 3 p.m. game against the host-team Hampton.

Senior Chelsey Mooney combined to go 3-of-5 from the plate, recording two RBI while classmate Zuzana Kudernatschova and Kaitlyn Meade pitched games one and two, respectively. Sophomore Sawyer Fried paced the Hawks with three RBI.

The battle between the two Hawks squads in the opening game was a nail biter, but it was the team from Philadelphia that prevailed in eight innings by a 9-8 final. In the final frame, a Nicole Palase single and a Brandi Harkness suicide squeeze by Harkness brought in Melissa Ruf to end the extra-inning affair.

Hartford took an early 2-0 lead in the contest as sophomore Margaret Betz slammed a bases clearing double down the middle of the infield with two outs. The junior drove in freshman Mackenzie Obert and sophomore Erin Okoniewski, a pair of Hawks who recorded back-to-back singles in their first career at-bats for the Scarlet and White.

But Saint Joseph's responded in the bottom half of the inning, lighting up the scoreboard with five runs to take a 5-2 advantage. With the bases loaded, Maria Ficca and Madeline Brunck tied up the game with a walk and fielder's choice, respectively, before a double off the bat of Ruf put the Hawks in front by a 4-2 count. A wild pitch later in the frame would bring Brunck across home plate and give Saint Joseph's the three-run cushion.

That 5-2 score held through two more innings until Hartford got its bats going in the top part of the fifth inning. Doing their damage with two on and two outs, the Hawks clawed back in the game to take a 6-5 lead before the end of the frame. Senior Amber Andrews, who reached base on a walk and took second on a wild pitch, closed the gap to 5-3 on a Saint Joseph's field error before Mooney drove in two more to tie up the game on a single down the middle of the field.

Mooney advanced to second on the play at the plate, and her pinch runner, Dani Regina, would then put the Hawks back in front, scoring on a right field double off the bat of sophomore Sawyer Fried.

The lead proved to be short-lived for Hartford, though, as Saint Joseph's tied up the contest at six runs apiece in the home part of the fifth thanks to one-out RBI single from Morgan Earling that brought home Sarah Yoos, who led off the frame with a walk, from third. The next inning, Saint Joseph's pushed ahead, 8-6, using sacrifice fly from Yoos followed by a triple by Alden.

Down to their final three outs, Fried again came through for the Hawks, driving in the game-tying runs on a base hit up the middle. The hit, her second of the game, brought home Andrews and Jenice Aloyo, who opened up the inning with back-to-back singles. Kudernatschova and the defense preserved the tie and forced extra innings, striking out Ficca and ending the seventh with a double play on a Ruf bunt.

Six of Kudernatschova's nine runs were earned as the senior fanned eight batters in her season debut. Saint Joseph's used four different pitchers, with Alex Dominici earning the win.

In the afternoon game, Columbia, which jumped out to a 3-1 lead after the first inning, extended its advantage to 7-1 heading into the bottom of the sixth. The Hawks made a late run, though, pushing two runs across in the bottom half of the frame, but they came up short of the comeback and suffered the 7-3 loss.

Aloyo recorded the RBI in the opening frame that cut a Hawks' 3-0 disadvantage down to two, launching a single to right field with no outs to plate Hartford's lead-off batter, Andrews.

Pushing their lead to 5-1 with single runs in the top of the third and the fourth, the Lions saw their lead balloon to 7-1 in the top of the sixth thanks to back-to-back singles off the bats of Shimoda and Snodgrass. Hartford's late run in the home part of the frame featured a Fried single and a Mooney walk that set the scene for Obert's RBI single that closed the gap to 7-2. Ana Alberti, the next batter, returned the favor and plated Obert on a double down the middle of the infield, making it a 7-3 contest, but the Hawks wouldn't be able to complete the comeback.

Meade struck out two in her season debut, conceding seven earned runs, while Darling, her counterpart, fanned seven batters to earn the win.