West Haven, Conn. - Effective pitching, clutch hitting and excellent defensive play propelled St. Thomas Aquinas College to a pair of 4-2 wins over host University of New Haven today in an non-conference softball doubleheader. The sweep extended STAC's win steak to seven games.

Sarah Clancy excelled again for the Spartans in both games. The senior righthander limited New Haven to just four hits in the first game to register her seventh win in 15 decisions. Teammate Eliana Raposo's two-run triple keyed a decisive three-run surge in the third inning that gave Clancy all of the offensive support that she needed.

Clancy came to the rescue in the second game to record her third save of the season. New Haven, now 2-16, threatened to win the game in the bottom of the seventh inning by putting runners on second and third base with no out and trailing 4-2. Clancy relieved starting pitcher Raposo and got the final three outs. The final two outs came when STAC right fielder Kaitlyn Tudico threw out a runner at home plate who tagged up and was trying to score. Tudico threw out another runner at third base earlier in the game.

It is the second time in the last three games that STAC got the final out of the game by retiring a runner at home plate.

The heroics by Clancy and Tudico culminated an exciting STAC comeback. Trailing 2-0, Tara Hagan and Jessica Feerick had run-scoring doubles to knot the score in the fourth inning and Feerick drove in the eventual winning run with another RBI hit in the sixth inning.

Hagan, a senior, finished with four hits in the twinbill. The graduate from nearby Clarkstown South High School is batting a sizzling .555 (10-for-18) in her last six games.

STAC, now 16-14, next travels to Garden City to face Adelphi University on Thursday in a non-conference doubleheader that is scheduled to start at 2:30 pm.