WEST HAVEN, Conn. – Sierra Cardenales (Patchogue, N.Y./Patchogue Medford) went 4-for-4 with a grand slam and five RBI during a pair of games as the University of New Haven softball team swept a twinbill from their cross-town rivals, the Southern Connecticut State Owls in a Northeast-10 Conference Southwest Division doubleheader on Wednesday afternoon. New Haven won game one 7-0 before taking the second contest 17-2 in five innings. With the wins the Chargers are 14-4 and 5-1 in the Southwest Division.
 
Key Players:
·         Cardenales went 4-for-4 with a walk during the twinbill including her first career home run, a grand slam in the second game. She also had two doubles and drove in five.
·         Sierra Whitlock (Woodbridge, Va./Woodbridge) four hits in the two games. She smacked two doubles and had three RBI.
·         Marissa Colby (Carlton, Mass./Shepherd Hill) and Julie Devlin (Baldwin, N.Y./Northwood School) each had three hits and two RBI in the two games.
·         Nicole King (Front Royal, Va./Warren County) pitched a five-hit shutout in game one. She did not walk a batter and struck out 11. It is her third consecutive game with 10 or more strikeouts.
·         Taylor Luzzi (Fishkill, N.Y./John Jay), Jen Palase (Staten Island, N.Y./Tottenville), Kristine Liptack (Trumbull, Conn./Trumbull) and Victoria Cabral (New Britain, Conn./Miss Porter's School / Hofstra) each had two hits on the day.
·         Vanessa Strohm (Lititz, Pa./Warwick) recorded her first career hit, a third inning single in game two. 

How it Happened (Game 1):
·         King worked out of a second inning jam when the Owls put a runner on third with one out. She struck out the final two batters of the frame to keep SCSU off the board.
·         New Haven cracked the scoreboard in the third as with Gabby DeLeo (Philadelphia, Pa./St. Hubert Catholic) on third and Whitlock on second via a hit batsman and a walk, Tori Schiebe (Monroe, Conn./Masuk) doubled to leftfield, scoring both runners. A single by Liptack moved Schiebe to third and a Luzzi base hit brought her home to make it 3-0.
·         The Chargers capitalized on a pair of defensive miscues in the fourth inning by Southern Connecticut to score four runs and make it 7-0. 

How it Happened (Game 2):
·         After the Owls scored a run in the top of the first, the Blue and Gold put four runs on the board on RBI hits from Luzzi, Colby and Whitlock, mixed around a bases loaded walk to Devlin. New Haven scored two in the second to go up 6-1.
·         Leading 6-2 entering the bottom of the third, the Chargers exploded for nine runs, sending 14 batters to the plate. The biggest blast of the inning was a grand slam from Cardenales, her first career home run.
·         Whitlock also had an impressive inning during the third, hitting a pair of doubles with an RBI. 

Turning Point (Game 1):
With runners on second and third, a double by Schiebe gave the Chargers their first two runs of the game in the third inning. King took care of the rest, pitching her second shutout of the season.
 
Turning Point (Game 2):
Leading 9-2 in the bottom of the third, Cardenales turned on a pitch and sent a no-doubter over the left-centerfield fence for a grand slam.
 
By the Numbers:
·         The 17 runs New Haven scored in the second game are the most since a 22-0 win against Mercy on March 24, 2004.
·         The Chargers hit nine doubles on the day.
·         The Blue and Gold have now won five consecutive games against NE-10 Southwest Division opponents. 

Up Next:
The Chargers head out on the road for a Northeast-10 Conference doubleheader against Bentley on Saturday, April 2. First pitch from Waltham, Mass. is scheduled for 12:00 p.m.