Game 1 | Game 2 | Updated stats
ELMIRA, N.Y. -- Visiting Nazareth closed out its softball season Sunday by sweeping Elmira in an Empire 8 Conference doubleheader. The Golden Flyers rode the four-hit, 12-strikeout pitching of senior Kelly Kocher to a 5-2 win in the opener, then freshman Sophia Rhoades went 3-for-3 with two RBIs in a 9-5 win in the second game.

Nazareth improved to 12-26 overall and 3-9 in Empire 8 games. Elmira is 8-16 and 1-11.

In her final Nazareth appearance, Kocher scattered four hits and walked none to record her fifth victory of the season. Nazareth took the lead with one run in the first and tacked on four more in the fifth. Kailey Ritch opened the game with a walk and stole second. She scored two outs later on a base hit by Casey Mathers.

Nazareth used four hits to score four times in the fifth. Liz Toner led off with a single and scored on a double by Brittany Patenaude. Mathers and Shannon Dowling each produced run-scoring grounders and Danielle Sancilio added a run-scoring single.

After Elmira scored both of its runs in the sixth inning, Kocher retired the side in order in the seventh, including two by strikeout, to end the game. Toner finished with three of Nazareth's nine hits and Sancilio had two hits.

Nazareth banged out 11 hits in the second game to support the complete-game pitching of freshman Corrin Spallone, who won her third game. Six of Nazareth's hits came in a six-run second inning as the Golden Flyers erased a 1-0 deficit. Ritch had a two-run double and Rhoades added a two-run single. Toner and Meg DeMario also had RBI singles.

Nazareth scored three more times in the fifth as Sancilio plated all three runs with a bases-loaded double. Elmira rallied for three runs in the seventh, but it wasn't enough as the Golden Flyers prevailed in their season finale. In addition to Rhoades' three hits, Patenaude, Sancilio and Toner had two each.