FAIRFIELD, Conn. – With strong pitching and timely hitting, the Fairfield University softball team completed its third sweep of Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) at home by handing Quinnipiac University a pair of losses this afternoon. The Stags posted a 5-2 victory in the opener before coming back with a 12-1 five-inning decision in the finale. The Stags improved to 23-20 overall and 13-5 in MAAC play, winning their eighth and ninth straight games this afternoon.

Quinnipiac took the lead in both games by scoring the first run of each contest but the Stags' bats proved to be formidable on Sunday. After falling behind in the second inning, Fairfield responded with a pair of runs in the third inning. Kaitlin Hoffman's sacrifice fly chased home the tying run but Fairfield's second run also came across the plate after an errant throw eluded the infielders and allowed Madison Robicheau to score the unearned run.

Fairfield put together three straight singles in the fourth inning to extend its lead after Kasey Sekula, Drew Westford, and Robicheau reached on successive singles. The Stags closed their scoring in game 1 in dramatic fashion, a rally that started with Charli Warren's single. Hoffman was next in the batter's box and launched a long home run that fought through the high winds and cleared the fence in left field.

The Bobcats drew closer with a run in the sixth inning when Kayla Jensen started things with a single. She stole second and continued to third on Gianna Palmisano's bunt base hit. Karolyn Walker sent a grounder to shortstop that retired the hitter but brought home Jensen to make the score 5-2.

Starting pitcher Katie Kudlacik earned her ninth win of the season by yielding five hits and striking out nine Bobcats.

In the same manner as game one, Quinnipiac opened the scoring with a single run, this time taking the early lead in the first inning. Brooke Hilliard scored off Kayla Thomas' double to right field that brought the score to 1-0. Fairfield answered with four runs in the bottom of the first inning, highlighted by a two-run double to left field by Megan Forbes and an RBI single from Mikayla Rubin.

The Stags added three more runs in the second inning with Rubin providing the key hit, a two-run single that brought home Warren and Forbes that would send the Stags in front by a comfortable 7-1 margin. Fairfield closed out the scoring in the bottom of the fourth inning with its biggest rally of the day, scoring five times to make the advantage grow to 12-1.
 
Rubin once again played a role in the offense with another two-run single that plated the first two runs of the inning. Westford laced a single to center field for the team's third run while Robicheau sent a sacrifice fly to right field for another run. Evie Wright entered the game and provided an infield hit to the left side of the infield for the team's 12^th run.

Lauryn Rhinehart earned her fifth victory of the season with her five-inning complete-game performance that saw the graduate student limit the visitors to four hits and one run while striking out one batter.

Fairfield closes out the regular-season with a MAAC doubleheader against Manhattan College on Monday afternoon. First pitch is slated for 1 pm. The doubleheader is rescheduled from Saturday where rain forced the postponement with the Jaspers.