CHARLOTTE, N.C. - The La Salle University softball team continued its red-hot start to the 2017 season with two more wins at the Green & White Invitational on Saturday. The Explorers downed Robert Morris, 7-5, before picking up a 6-4 victory over Fairfield to improve to 4-0 on the year. 

With the wins, La Salle advances to the championship round of the four-team event and will take on the host Charlotte for the title on Sunday, Feb. 26 at 12:15 p.m.

La Salle 7, Robert Morris 5
A three-run first inning pushed the Explorers in front early, despite the fact that the scoring rally was made without recording a single hit.
 
Two walks and a hit by pitch loaded the bases with nobody out, and senior Suzanne Swanicke  drove in the first run after being plunked by a pitch from Robert Morris starter Lacee Collins.
 
A pair of wild pitches during the next at bat by Valerie Pineiro allowed two more runs to cross home plate and put the score at 3-0.
 
La Salle extended the lead to 5-0 in the third, as seniors Mackenzie Obert and Christina Bascara opened the frame with consecutive hits. A sacrifice fly from Swanicke scored Obert, before a passed ball two batters later allowed Bascara to score.
 
Pineiro recorded a two-out RBI double in the fifth as part of a two-run scoring inning to extend the lead to 7-0, before the Colonials broke through with a single run in the bottom of the frame.
 
The lead remained six until the bottom of the seventh, when Robert Morris made a valiant comeback attempt. A two-run home run from Abrielle McCartney cut the advantage to 7-5 with two outs.
 
But McKenzie Peace, who started the contest in the circle and tossed 3.1 scoreless innings, returned for the final out to preserve the victory.

La Salle 6, Fairfield 4
Much like the contest earlier in the day, La Salle jumped out to an early lead in the first inning as an error on the Stags allowed the first run to score and Pineiro came through with a run-scoring single to put the score at 2-0.

After Fairfield pulled to within one in the top of the second, the Explorers padded their lead in the bottom half. Swanicke, who also had a pair of RBIs against Robert Morris, drove in two more with a two-out, bases-loaded single to push La Salle in front, 4-1.

From there, sophomore hurler Marlo Roadcap mowed down nine straight batters from the third to the fifth innings and closed the impressive three-inning stint by striking out the side in the top of the fifth. 

La Salle tacked on two more runs in the bottom of the frame as junior Taylor Rohrbaugh doubled home pinch runner Tori Gollie, and freshman Jackie Heim plated Rohrbaugh with an opposite-field single to extend the margin to 6-1.

Roadcap ran into a little trouble in the sixth, as Fairfield pushed home three runs on a pair of doubles to trim its deficit to 6-4. But the left-handed Roadcap was able to strike out the potential tying run to end the inning, and Peace, who came in to relieve her teammate in the circle, worked around a one-out single in the seventh to pick up the save.