FAIRFIELD, Conn. – The Niagara University softball team (5-11, 1-1) split its Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference opener at Fairfield University (6-14, 1-1) Saturday, falling 4-3 in the first game and winning 7-4 in the second.

"We executed the game plan extremely well today," Purple Eagle head coach Al Dirschberger said. "We had 25 hits and really put a lot of pressure on their defense. They were pitching us to the outside all day and we took advantage and found the gap between center field and right field."

The Purple Eagles hit .410 as a squad and limited the Stags to just 13 hits and a .240 batting average.

Junior Tory Healy (Las Vegas, Nev.) led the team in the series, hitting .625 with a pair of doubles. Sophomore Heather Lohrman (Newport Beach, Calif.) hit .600 with a double, and freshman Kristin Kill (South Portland, Maine) hit .571 with two doubles, a triple and a pair of RBI.

Niagara returns to action Sunday when it plays in New Rochelle, N.Y., vs. Iona College at 11 a.m.

Fairfield 4, Niagara 3

Erin Frank hit a two-run home run in the bottom of the sixth inning to cap a three-run rally that gave Fairfield the 4-3 win.

Niagara took a 1-0 lead in the game when senior Lisa Baker (West Seneca, N.Y./West Seneca West) scored on a Stags’ error in the top of the fourth. The Purple Eagles made it 3-0 in the fifth when Sum hit a two-run double in the right-center gap to score Lohrman and sophomore Felicia Coffey (Mesa, Ariz.).

Fairfield cut the lead to 3-1 when Dani Griswold hit a lead-off home run in the bottom of the fifth. In the sixth, the Stags used a single, a triple and Frank’s game-winning home run for the victory.

Junior Tiffany McCrory (Albuquerque, N.M.) took the loss, throwing six innings and giving up six hits.

Niagara 7, Fairfield 4

Rookie Kristin Kill came up with her second game-winning hit of the season as she it a two-run double to left-center field in the sixth inning.

Niagara again jumped out to the early lead when Sum hit an RBI single to score Kill in the first inning. Lohrman followed that up in the second inning with an RBI double. Kill then made it 3-0 in the third when she hit a triple to right field and then scored on a Fairfield error. Sum singled, Healy doubled and Baker hit an RBI single to put the Purple Eagles up 4-0.

The Stags made it 4-2 in the fourth and tied it in the fifth before Niagara scored twice on Kill’s double in the sixth. Rookie Jenna Baker (West Seneca, N.Y./West Seneca West) doubled to center field to score Healy for the Purple Eagles’ final run.

Junior Brooke Viola (Los Alamitos, Calif.) got the win, going six innings and giving up seven hits. McCrory picked up the save, throwing the seventh inning.