LYNDHURST, N.J. – The softball teams from Concordia (N.Y.) College and Felician College competed for nearly five hours in a Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference doubleheader on Tuesday afternoon at Matera Field. When the last out was finally recorded, visiting Concordia had claimed a pair of come-from-behind wins by scores of 6-3 and 18-8.

The teams combined to draw 20 walks in Game 1, but also left a total of 24 runners on base. The nightcap, which was shortened to six innings but was still two hours, 13 minutes, in duration, featured a total of 28 base hits, 12 bases on balls, and five hit batsmen. Despite the 26 total runs, another 20 runners were stranded.

Felician sophomore shortstop and leadoff hitter Aimee Lopez (Riverbank, Calif/Riverbank) scored two runs in each contest. She has tied the Felician record of 33 runs in a season. Lopez shares the mark with Nicole Degenhardt (2010) and Carissa Trujillo (2012). The Golden Falcons have 10 regular-season games remaining.

In Tuesday's opening contest, winning pitcher Theresa Magnani (Bethpage, N.Y./Plainedge) (4-11) tossed a complete-game five-hitter and batted 2 for 4 with three runs batted in for Concordia (9-20, 8-12). Felician had taken an early 2-0 lead when Kelsi Ludwigsen (Havre de Grace, Md.) was hit with a based-loaded pitch in the first inning and Halei Van Dyke (West Milford, N.J./West Milford) launched an RBI double in the second, but the Clippers erased the deficit on Magnani's two-run single in the top of the third.

Concordia took the lead for good in the fourth, plating two runs without the benefit of a base hit. The Clippers loaded the bases with one out, with all three runners coming via base on balls. Freshman Victoria Vickerman (Clinton, Conn./Mercy) drove in a run with the visitors' fourth walk of the inning, and Magnani followed with a sacrifice fly.  

In the home half of the fourth, Felician put runners on second and third with two outs. Katie Heflin (Escalon, Calif./Escalon) scored on an infield single by teammate Ciera Clark (Granite Bay, Calif./Del Oro), but potential tying run Zharde Sellona (Aliso Viejo, Calif/Aliso Niguel) was cut down at the plate by Concordia shortstop Alexandra Mandarano (New Rochelle, N.Y./New Rochelle) attempting to come around from second. That was as close as the Golden Falcons would get, as they left two runners on base in both the fifth and seventh innings without scoring. Concordia, meanwhile, had tacked on single runs in the sixth and seventh off of the Felician bullpen.

Magnani allowed two earned runs, struck out six batters, and walked seven. Teammate Kristina Pactrocinio (Edison, N.J./J.P. Stevens) tripled for her team's only extra-base hit.

Felician (13-25, 9-13) erased a 3-0 deficit with five runs in the bottom of the second inning of Game 2, then took a 7-3 edge on a two-run single by Lopez in the third. But in the top of the fifth, the Clippers put their first 10 batters on base via hit or walk. By the time Amanda Ramirez (Lindenhurst, N.Y./Lindenhurst) capped the rally with a two-run triple in her second plate appearance of the inning, the visitors had tallied 10 runs and taken a 13-7 edge.

Concordia plated five more runs in the sixth, highlighted by a Vickerman two-run double, to enact the NCAA 8-run rule. The Clippers finished with 18 hits, with four starters recording a three-hit effort. Vickerman drove in four runs to give her six for the day, and Ramirez had three RBI, all in the decisive fifth inning.

Lopez went 3 for 5 with two RBI and Ludwigsen was 2 for 4 with a double and two runs scored for the Golden Falcons.

The day's results left Concordia percentage points behind Felician for eighth place and the final playoff berth in the 14-team CACC. Felician has four conference games left to play, while the Clippers have six.