LYNCHBURG, Va. -- The Fairfield University softball team opened play at the Flames Classic with a pair of games against the University of Maryland, dropping a pair of games by 4-3 and 11-0 scores. The Stags posted three hits in each end of the doubleheader with Kaitlin Hoffman collecting two of those hits.

Fairfield nearly pulled off the upset in the opener as it grabbed an early lead and did not lose it until the Terrapins final at-bat of the game. The Stags scored a run in the first inning after Charli Warren opened the game with walk. The sophomore quickly swiped second base to reach scoring position, setting up Hoffman's first hit of the game which came in the form of an RBI single.

The Stags tacked on two more runs in the top of the third inning, using a leadoff hit, two walks, and an error to pad their lead to 3-0. Allie Bridgman started the rally with a base hit to start the inning which Warren and Haley Updegraff followed with back-to-back walks to load the bases with no one. After a fielder's choice forced the runner at home, Megan Forbes' hit a grounder to the right side of the infield which was mishandled and allowed two runs to cross home plate. 

Maryland was kept off the scoreboard by Bridgman for the first three innings but the team finally picked up a run in the bottom of the fourth inning. Sophomore Ameila Lech launched a home run over the left-center field wall to bring the Terrapins with two runs at 3-1. The team edged even closer with a single run in the sixth inning when Kiley Goff began the inning with a walk and a stolen base. She found her way around the base paths courtesy of Trinity Schlotterbeck's RBI single which closed the gap to 3-2.

The Terrapins would score the walk off win in the bottom of the seventh after Goff stroked a one-out two-run double to left-center field to push the final score to 4-3.

Maryland took control of game two right from the start, using a single and an error to take a 1-0 lead in its first at-bat of the game. A pair of walks set up a three-run home run by Jaeda McFarland in the bottom of the second inning to increase the Terrapin edge to 4-0. The game remained at that margin until the fourth frame as Goff added a two-run single and McFarland chipped in with a sacrifice fly to make the score 7-0. The game's final runs were furnished in the top of the sixth inning with Lech and McFarland posting back-to-back homers and a pair of RBI singles later in the inning.

The Stags scratched out three hits in the nightcap with Forbes, Cara Kochakian, and Gillian Deans each earning a base hits.

Fairfield returns to action in the Flames Classic on Saturday afternoon with a single game against host Liberty University at 2:30 pm followed by another single contest with Sacred Heart University at 4:30 pm.