WEST HAVEN, Conn. – Taylor Luzzi (Fishkill, N.Y./John Jay) had three hits including two doubles and drove home five runs as the University of New Haven softball team claimed a 7-3 victory in game one of a doubleheader against the New York Institute of Technology Bears on Friday afternoon. The Bears won game two 5-4.

In the opener, the Chargers got another strong pitching performance from Megan Butts (West Chester, Pa./Henderson) who pitched her sixth complete game in as many starts, taking a shutout into the seventh inning. She scattered eight hits, striking out three.

Four New Haven players had multi-hit games during the twinbill, led by Luzzi who added a hit in the second game to end up with four base knocks on the day. Julie Devlin (Baldwin, N.Y./Northwood School) had a double and a triple, driving in three runs, while Kristine Liptack (Trumbull, Conn./Trumbull) and Catherine Vaughan (Commack, N.Y./Hauppauge) had two hits each. Erin Stever (Parish, N.Y./Altmar Parish Williamstown) reached base three times on a trio of walks.

GAME ONE HIGHLIGHTS

• The Chargers struck right away in the bottom of the first inning when with Vaughan on third and Sierra Whitlock (Woodbridge, Va./Woodbridge) on second after a walk, single and a sacrifice by Marissa Colby (Charlton, Mass./Shepherd Hill), Luzzi doubled to left, plating both runners for a 2-0 lead.
• New Haven added three runs in the third when Vaughan doubled to lead off the inning, followed two batters later by a walk to Colby. After Vanessa Strohm (Lititz, Pa./Warwick) came in to pinch run at first, Luzzi doubled again to plate Vaughan and move Strohm to third. Devlin stood in and doubled to the wall in left center to bring broth runners home and push the score to 5-0.
• The Blue and Gold scored twice more in the fourth as with the bases loaded, Luzzi singled back through the middle to score Vaughan and Gabby DeLeo (Philadelphia, Pa./St. Hubert Catholic).
• NYIT got their runs in the seventh inning on a two-out, three-run home run.

GAME TWO HIGHLIGHTS

• The Bears jumped on the board when the first batter of the game homered to make it 1-0.
• New Haven took the lead in the second as with one out, Stever walked and Alexandria Cunkle (Harrisburg, Pa./Central Dauphin) singled before both runners moved up a base on a throwing error. DeLeo laid down a safety squeeze bringing Stever to the plate, tying the game. Vaughan followed with a cue shot up the first base line for an infield single, scoring Cunkle and putting the Chargers up 2-1.
• NYIT retook the lead with three unearned runs in the fourth to go up 4-2.
• In the bottom of the fifth, the Blue and Gold drew even with two outs. Luzzi singled for her fourth hit of the day before Devlin tripled to left. Liptack followed with a single to right, scoring Devlin to tie the game at 4-4.
• The Bears scored the final run of the game in the top of the seventh inning as Madison Smith doubled to lead off the frame and moved to third on a groundout before coming in to score on a squeeze bunt from Josephine Santagata.

UP NEXT
New Haven returns to Northeast-10 Conference Southwest Division play when it hosts the Adelphi Panthers in a doubleheader on Tuesday, March 28. First pitch is slated for 3:00 p.m.