HAMDEN, Conn. -- Lacey Olaff registered five hits and five RBI while Megan Forbes added another five hits to help the Fairfield University softball team earn a sweep of today's doubleheader at Quinnipiac University. The two victories also concluded a four-game series sweep of the Bobcats which included a pair of victories last Wednesday at Alumni Softball Field.

Today, the Stags collected 10 runs and 26 hits in the two games as they handed their host 5-4 and 5-2 setbacks. The decisions also enabled the team to even up their road record to .500 with a 6-6 mark. 

Fairfield needed a seventh-inning rally to record the first win, scoring twice in the final at-bat to erase a one-run deficit. The Stags started the game by scoring the first three runs to build an early advantage. Forbes led off the game with a double which Madison Robicheau followed with a walk. A wild pitch put both runners in scoring position, setting up Olaff's RBI grounder to second base for a 1-0 lead.

Forbes opened the third with a base hit to start things in motion for a two-run inning. She took second base after Robicheau placed a bunt down to the right side and sent to third base after Hoffman singled down the right field line. Hoffman put herself in scoring position with a stolen base, giving Olaff the chance to drive both runners home with a single up the middle. The lead evaporated in the bottom half of the inning when Kayla Thomas launched a three-run homer with one out and took the lead in the sixth inning off an RBI fielder's choice from Kathrine Gonzalez.

The visitors managed to push two runs across in the top of the seventh inning off three hits including a leadoff single from pinch hitter Evie Wright. After being sacrificed to second base, Olaff tied the game with a double off the center field fence. Haley Updegraff entered the game as a pinch runner and scored the deciding run when Kasey Sekula sent a single to center field. Allie Bridgman earned the win with six-plus innings of work, yielding to Bailey Taylor who secured the final two outs including a game-ending strikeout with a runner on third base.

Quinnipiac took the early lead in the second game with a first-inning run that revolved around a one-out single followed by an RBI double from Kayla Jensen. The lead lasted for three innings until Fairfield put together a four-hit fourth inning that produced four runs. Olaff secured the first run with a double to center field and scored when Sekula's grounder was mishandled.

Wright kept the inning going with a single to put runners on first and second. After the two student-athletes advanced a base following a passed ball, Lauryn Rhinehart drove a double to left field to increase Fairfield's lead to 4-1. The team's final run scored in the sixth inning when Forbes singled to right field and came all the way around the bases off Mikayla Rubin's double to center field.

Quinnipiac tried to make a comeback in the seventh inning and was able to add a run to its total before the rally ended on a ground out with runners on base. Thomas brought home the lone run in the inning with a single up the middle. Rhinehart earned the victory by tossing the first four inning before Bailey Taylor finished the game with three innings of relief.

The Stags will now wait for the pairings of the 2021 MAAC Championship to come out later this week to find out which conference opponent will be their opponent in a best of three quarterfinal series. The games will be played this weekend on May 8 and 9.