Dayton Flyers

DAYTON, Ohio – The University of Dayton softball team went 3-1 in the opening weekend of fall exhibition, picking up wins over Cedarville and Findlay.

Dayton dropped a close battle in its first contest of the fall against Northern Kentucky. The Flyers fell to the Norsemen 1-0. Senior Sarah Wedel pitched five innings and had three strikeouts.

In the second game on Saturday, UD shut out Cedarville 5-0. Dayton amassed nine hits in the game and was powered by junior Kathleen Maloof who was 3-for-4 with a two-run home run.  Senior Courtney Kutsulis and sophomore Dana Trotta each had an RBI.  Junior Sydney Cicchetti pitched three innings with two strikeouts.  Freshman Kayla English pitched four innings with four strikeouts and no walks.

On Sunday, the Flyers swept the Findlay Oilers with 7-3 win in game one and a 4-0 shutout in game two. Kutsulis had a two-run home run in the first game. Trotta was 2-for-2 with one RBI. Junior Carlyn Harlow, sophomore Rachel Archer and Maloof also had an RBI. English had one strikeout in four innings of work. Cicchetti had two strikeouts in three innings pitched.

Freshman Natalie Mariano had a pair of doubles in game two. Maloof had two RBI and Freshman Tiffany Ricks also had an RBI for UD in its 4-0 victory over Findlay. Wedel, Isaacson and Cicchetti each combined for the shutout.

Dayton returns 13 from last year's team that advanced to the Atlantic 10 Tournament for the first time since 2000. The Flyers will face Ohio on Oct. 8 at 11 a.m. and Ohio State at 1 p.m. in the Ohio State Collegiate Charity Classic.