ROCKVILLE CENTRE, N.Y. (May 2, 2024) – Despite a complete game from graduate student Alexi Benson (Spotsylvania, Va./Riverbend) and an RBI from freshman Averi Miller (Las Vegas, Nev./Arbor View), the No. 4 seeded Mercy University softball team dropped a 2-1 decision to No. 1 seeded Molloy University in Game 1 of the ECC Softball Championship on Thursday afternoon at Bob Klein Field.

The Mavericks (14-27) will now face No. 3 seeded Queens in an elimination game tomorrow at 1:30 p.m. at Bob Klein Field. If Mercy defeats Queens, they will play again at 4 p.m. The Lions (29-20) have won all five meetings against Mercy this season and will face No. 2 seeded St. Thomas Aquinas at 11 a.m. tomorrow.

Mercy was led by Miller who went 2-for-3 with an RBI and by senior Shannon Sisco (Cicero, N.Y./Mansfield University) who went 1-for-2. Freshman Allison Murphy (Stony Point, N.Y./North Rockland) went 1-for-3 with a run and junior Victoria Seppala (Abington, Mass./Abington) went 1-for-3. Benson tossed a complete game with just two runs and five hits allowed to take the loss.

Molloy was led by Alex Burns and Stevie Dabbadie who each recorded an RBI. Sophia Mariottini pitched a complete game to earn the win.

The game remained scoreless until the top of the third when Mercy scored a run to take a 1-0 lead. Murphy was hit by a pitch and moved to second after a Sisco sacrifice bunt. Miller then singled to center field, scoring Murphy to make it 1-0. Molloy scored two runs in the bottom of the third on one hit to take a 2-1 lead.

Mercy threatened in the fifth when freshman Dylan Reyer (Baldwin, N.Y./Baldwin) walked, and Murphy doubled to put runners on second and third with one out. A strikeout and flyout ended the inning and kept Molloy in front 2-1.

The Mavericks could not score in the sixth or seventh innings giving Molloy the 2-1 win.

Mercy had five hits and two errors and Molloy had five hits and one error.

Head Coach Jaime Lorenzo and the Mavericks resume action tomorrow when they face Queens at Molloy at 1:30 p.m.