Sara Gedeon's strong pitching in the first game and homers by teammates Taylor Gilligan and Alyssa Siess in the second game powered Dominican College to 9-2 and 6-4 wins and a sweep of St. Thomas Aquinas College today in non-conference women's softball play at Spartan Field.

Softening STAC's disappointment of losing two games to its crosstown rival was today's results in the ECC, where the Lady Spartans are still in contention for a playoff berth. STAC is seeking its first playoff berth in the NCAA since joining in 2000. New York Technology of Institute recorded 2-1 and 8-0 wins over Queens College to tighten the race for the final playoff berth and deal a very damaging blow to Queens' post-season chances. In the final week of the season, Bridgeport (9-11), NYIT (8-12) and STAC (7-13) all have four conference games remaining while Queens finished its ECC season at 9-15.

STAC plays Bridgeport in a critical doubleheader on Thursday that will have a major impact on both teams' playoff hopes.  "I am not happy with the way we played today so we will need to regroup before our games with Bridgeport," said Kristen Sullivan, STAC's head coach."

Dominican broke open a close game in the opener with five runs in the fifth inning to take a commanding 7-0 lead. The Lady Spartans committed two errors to help fuel the Chargers' rally. Gedeon allowed only three hits in sixth innings of solid mound work. STAC's Kelcy McGeehan hit her second home run of the season.

In the second game, Gilligan's three-run homer in the first inning gave her team a lead that it would never relinquish. Siess hit a two-run homer in the fifth inning to expand Dominican's led to 6-2 before STAC mounted a mild comeback rally. Melissa Sadler led the STAC offense with three hits.

STAC, which fell to 12-28 overall, will host Bridgeport on Thursday in a twin bill that begins at 2:30 p.m.