UTICA, NY - The Utica College softball team swept an Empire 8 doubleheader against Nazareth College on Saturday. On a cold and windy afternoon, the Pioneer bats turned in a scorching hot performance as they combined to hammer out fifteen runs on 26 hits over the two games en route to wins of 10-7 and 5-4 at Greenman Field.

The conference wins move Utica's record to 9-5, and 4-4 in the Empire 8 Conference. They have won four of their last five games. Nazareth fell to 2-8, and 2-6 in the Empire 8.

Bailey McElwain (Baldwinsville, NY/Charles W. Baker High School) went 4-of-7 with four runs scored and two RBI. She had a double and two triples over the course of the afternoon. Madison Akots (Wynantskill, NY/Emma Willard School) went 4-for-4. Julia Phelps (Waterford, NY/Shenendehowa High School) went 3-of-4 with two runs scored and two RBI. Megan O'Keefe (Albany, NY/Bethlehem Central) scored two runs and drove in three more.

In the circle, Jordyn Conte (Newport, NY/West Canada Valley High School) was the winning pitcher in both games and improved to an overall record of 6-4. She struck out six in a total of ten innings of work.

Utica wraps up a busy conference weekend on Sunday with a doubleheader at St. John Fisher. First pitch is set for 1 p.m. in Rochester, NY.

Game 1: Utica 10, Nazareth 7

The Pioneers erupted for 17 hits as they overhauled a 1-0 deficit by scoring nine of the next eleven runs to go on to victory in the front half of the doubleheader.

Conte allowed only three earned runs on nine hits to take the win. 

Sara Stransky (Miller Place, NY/Miller Place) was 2-of-4 with two RBI, Emily Joss (South Glens Falls, NY/South Glens Falls) was 2-of-3 with three RBI, while O'Keefe, McElwain, and Adrian Duvall (Lisbon, NY/Lisbon Central School) each scored two runs. O'Keefe doubled twice as well as part of an attack that sported five extra base hits. Phelps tacked on a triple. The Pioneers had seventeen hits.

The Pioneers spotted the first run of the game on a passed ball, then roared back with the next five runs. Stransky provided an answer to the early hole in the bottom of the inning as she singled in McElwain to knot the score at one run apiece. In the second inning, Akots scored on a Duvall single, while Abbigayle Finch (New Paltz, NY/New Paltz) came across to score on a sacrifice fly for a 3-1 lead.

The third and fourth innings added another run each for the Pioneers. In the third, Akots drove in O'Keefe on a single, and Phelps drove a fourth inning triple into left field to score Duvall. McElwain and Stransky each recorded an RBI double as part of a five-run fifth inning, and a Naz rally over the final two innings was capped at just four runs as the Pioneers secured the win. 

Game 2: Utica 5, Nazareth 4

Megan O'Keefe (Albany, NY/Bethlehem Central) grounded out to drive in Emily Joss (South Glens Falls, NY/South Glens Falls) in the fifth inning to break a 4-4 tie, and the Pioneers held Nazareth at bay in the seventh with the tying run in scoring position as they held on to complete the sweep.

McElwain was 3-for-4 with two triples and two run scored. O'Keefe had three RBI. Conte nailed down the win in relief for the Pioneers and struck out four batters. The Pioneers combined for nine hits.

Phelps drove in McElwain on a sacrifice fly to assume the early lead for Utica in the bottom of the first. Nazareth snagged a 3-1 lead in the top of the third, but O'Keefe came through with a two RBI single to knot the score at three runs apiece. Nazareth re-acquired a 4-3 lead in the top of the fourth, but the Pioneers saw Finch score on a McElwain triple, and Joss went on to score the winning run in the fifth while Conte fired two scoreless innings at the end of the game to nail down the victory.