UTICA, NY - The Utica University softball team remained perfect at the friendly confines of Greenman Field following its doubleheader sweep of the Houghton University Highlanders on Tuesday evening. The Pioneers took game one by a 5-3 score before winning game five in five innings, 9-1. 
 
Game 1: Utica 5, Houghton 3
Emily Joss (South Glens Falls, NY/South Glens Falls) and Maddie Zulager (Moorpark, CA/Moorpark) led Utica with two hits each with Zulager going for extra-bases twice with a double and her third home run of the season. Lauren Paul (Guilderland, NY/Guilderland) also went yard in the game for her second homer of the year as part of a 2-for-3 outing. Jennifer Rodriguez (Sylmar, CA/John F. Kennedy) and Alyssa Barbato (Rhinebeck, NY/Rhinebeck) each had a base hit while Cassidy Doiron (Beacon Falls, CT/Woodland Regional) doubled. Zulager, Paul, Doiron, Taylor Kraft (Loudonville, NY/Shaker) and Frankie Luster (Granada Hills, CA/Granada Hills Charter) all had one RBI. 
 
Jordyn Conte (Newport, NY/West Canada Valley High School) picked up her seventh win of the season while Maggie Habernig (Kingston, NY/Kingston) earned her first save. Conte went five innings allowing three runs on seven hits and three walks with five strikeouts. Habernig tossed the final two innings with three hits allowed and one walk issued. She also struck out a pair. 
 
The Highlanders jumped on the board first in the top of the 1st. Back-to-back two out hits paved the way to the first run of the contest following a single and RBI double. Utica struck back in the bottom of the 2nd when Doiron doubled in Rodriguez from second base to even the score after two full. 
 
After Conte forced the Highlanders to strand a runner on third in the top of the 3rd inning, the Pioneers picked up the graduate student by scoring twice in the home half to take their first lead of the contest. Luster brought in Joss on an RBI ground out before Zulager went opposite field to left for a solo home run and a 3-1 lead. 
 
Conte retired the Houghton side in order in the top of the 4th while Paul led off the bottom half with a laser shot over the left field fence to extend the team's lead to 4-1. 
 
Houghton threatened a big inning in the top of the 5th after the first three runners reached base to load them up with none away. However, Conte worked out of it with just two runs allowed as she exited the game with Utica still in the lead, 4-3. 
 
Utica got one of the runs back in the bottom half before Habernig pitched clean 6th and 7th innings to close the door on game one. 
 
Game 2: Utica 9, Houghton 1 (5 Inn.)
Rachel Little (Burbank, CA/John Burroughs) went a perfect 3-for-3 at the plate in game two as the freshman backstop doubled, scored twice and drove in one. Emily Joss (South Glens Falls, NY/South Glens Falls) notched three hits over four trips to the plate with a double, two RBIs and a run. With her first RBI of the game, Joss became the fifth player in program history to eclipse 100 career RBIs. 
 
Maddie Zulager (Moorpark, CA/Moorpark), Jennifer Rodriguez (Sylmar, CA/John F. Kennedy) and Alyssa Barbato (Rhinebeck, NY/Rhinebeck) all had multi-hit games as well, Rodriguez doing so tied for a team high two RBIs. 
 
Kylie Murray (Eastchester, NY/Eastchester) went all five innings en route to her sixth win of the year. The junior allowed just one run on four hits and three walks over 22 batters faced and an efficient 68 pitches. 
 
Murray worked around a leadoff walk in the top of the 1st and retired the next three batters, leading to Utica taking a 1-0 lead in the bottom half on a Zulager RBI base-hit. Joss and Frankie Luster (Granada Hills, CA/Granada Hills Charter) proceeded to bring home one run each during the following frame to put the Pioneers up 3-0 entering the top of the 3rd. 
 
The Highlanders went down in order in the top half as Murray induced three consecutive ground outs over just seven pitches. In the home half, Little rocketed a two-out double off of the left field fence to score Amanda Chavarria (Westbury, NY/W.T. Clarke) from first base and extend the Pioneers' lead to 4-0. 
 
Utica tacked on three more in the bottom of the 4th with a two-RBI Rodriguez double before scoring on Chavarria's at-bat that resulted in an E7. 
 
Although Houghton came around to score one in the top of the 5th, Utica looked to end the game early via eight-run rule after Little and Barbato led off the bottom half with singles. In to pinch-hit, Brooke Beleza (Amherstview, Ontario/Jefferson Community College) singled through the left side to score Little from second. The next batter, Joss, followed up immediately after with a single up the middle to second Barbato home and end the second game. 
 
Utica (17-9, 6-2 Empire 8) will remain home to host Keuka College for a doubleheader on Thursday, April 25 with game one beginning at 4 p.m.