Box Score 1 | Box Score 2

Moon Township, Pa. – The Robert Morris University softball team dropped a pair of games in a Northeast Conference doubleheader to Fairleigh Dickinson to close the 2014 campaign on a mostly cloudy Sunday afternoon at the North Athletic Complex.
 
RMU fell in the first game, 4-1, before suffering a 6-0 defeat in the nightcap.
 
Sophomore Ashley Gerhart (Imperial, Pa.  / West Allegheny) led the Colonials offensively Sunday as she reached base safely in six of her eight plate appearances in the pair of games. She went 4-for-6 with a double and two walks. In the nightcap, she notched her third three-hit game of the season and the seventh of her career.
 
Senior Chelsea Evans (Beaver Falls, Pa. / Riverside) reached base four times against the Knights as she was 2-for-5 with two walks, a sacrifice and two steals on the day. Evans started her first-ever game at third base in her final collegiate appearance Sunday.
 
Senior Geena Badolato (Mt. Lebanon, Pa. / Mt. Lebanon) put forth a strong effort in her final collegiate outing but came up on the short end of the decision. She went all seven innings and allowed just five hits and one earned run. She struck out five batters against a lone walk in the 109th appearance of her career.
 
After Badolato retired the side in order in the top of the first of the opener, Gerhart walked to start the bottom half. Evans sacrificed her to second. With two outs, sophomores Haileigh Stocks (Jamison, Pa. / Central Bucks South) and Kristen Gabelt (Ligonier, Pa. / Ligonier Valley) both walked, the latter on a full count, to load the bases, but a foul out ended the inning.
 
Badolato struck out the final two batters in the second to leave a runner at second base.
 
Junior Alexis Schwartzmiller (Carnegie, Pa. / Chartiers Valley) and freshman Stacey Capp (McKees Rocks, Pa. / Montour) both singled to start the bottom of the second. After a double play, an error by the Knights allowed Schwartzmiller to come home with the game's first run.
 
Fairleigh Dickinson tallied two singles and used two errors to score twice in the third and take the lead.
 
RMU went in order in the third, and FDU tallied an infield single in the fourth, but the runner was promptly thrown out trying to steal by Evans.
 
Sophomore Lauren Hackett (Glenshaw, Pa. / Shaler Area) knocked an opposite-field single to start the fourth before Schwartzmiller was hit by a pitch. With two outs, Gerhart battled back from an 0-2 count to work a walk, loading the bases, but a pickoff ended the threat.
 
Badolato set down the side in order in the fifth on 12 pitches. Evans ripped a single down the left field line to start the home half before freshman Jordan Gurganus (Chesapeake, Va. / Hickory) punched a single into right. The duo would execute a double steal, but three consecutive groundouts would not bring home a run.
 
Fairleigh Dickinson used two hits, an error and a sacrifice fly to score a pair of runs in the sixth.
 
RMU would not produce a baserunner in the bottom half, and Badolato worked around a two-out hit batter in the seventh.
 
Gerhart singled to start the seventh, but the rally then fizzled as no further Colonials could reach base.
 
Robert Morris produced a number of baserunners in the nightcap, but it was unable to break them all the way around to score.
 
Fairleigh Dickinson took the lead right away in the first as a hit batter, two singles and a RBI groundout put the visitors up by two runs.
 
RMU went down in order in the bottom half, the only frame in which the Colonials did not produce a runner.
 
FDU put two runners on in the second with a single and a hit batter, but a strikeout ended the frame.
 
An error and an opposite-field single by Gabelt gave RMU a chance in the second, but a runner was cut down on the bases to end the inning.
 
The Knights' lone runner in the third came via a two-out walk.
 
Gerhart ripped a double to the fence in right center with two outs in the third and moved to third base on a single by Evans. After Evans swiped second, a bang-bang call at first went against the Colonials, producing a groundout that stopped the chance.
 
FDU used four hits and a walk to score four runs, all with two outs, in the fourth inning.
 
A throwing error by the Knights gave RMU a runner in the bottom half, but the Colonials would not take advantage.
 
A leadoff single by FDU would later be erased when Capp snared a line drive and started an inning-ending double play.
 
An error, an opposite-field single by Gerhart and a full-count walk by Evans loaded the bases with one out in the fifth. FDU cut down the lead runner at the plate on a ground ball for the second out before a fielder's choice ended the inning.
 
A one-out walk by FDU in the sixth amounted to nothing. Gabelt walked with two outs in the bottom half, but a lineout ended the frame.
 
The Knights took a walk and tallied a single in the seventh but did not add to their lead.
 
Gerhart singled to center with one out in the seventh, and Evans followed with a walk to put two runners on base. However, a lineout on the infield and a fielder's choice would bring the contest to a close.
 
With her effort in the final game, Gerhart reached double figures in multi-hit games for the second straight season and now has 23 in her career.
 
Robert Morris will lose four seniors with the close of this campaign, but it has five incoming commits who have signed to join the Colonials for the 2015 season.