Buffalo, N.Y. - Carissa Della Vecchia twirled a three hitter to help St. Thomas Aquinas College post a 3-1 win over D'Youville University and salvage a split of an East Coast Conference softball doubleheader at Dobson Field in Buffalo, N.Y. D'Youville won the first game, 9-8, in eight innings.

Della Vecchia, a lefty, was in command from the outset and finished with 11 strikeouts to lift her record to 7-2. It marked Della Vecchia's 37th career win, which is tied for second in program history with Allison Vickers (2000-04). Shannon Massey (1993-97) is the all-time winner with 59. Della Vecchia is already the program's all-time leader in strikeouts. 

Freshman Adriana Coira was the offensive standout for the winners. She stroked run-scoring singles in the third and seventh innings and now leads the teams in hits this season while sporting a batting average of .333. Tara Hagan drove in STACs other run with a sacrifice fly in the sixth inning.

In the first game, the Spartans rallied back from a 4-3 deficit to build an 8-4 advantage before D'Youville scored single runs in the third, fourth, fifth, sixth and eight innings to pull off the comeback win. Freshman Eliana Raposo, who was named the ECC Rookie of the Week today, drove in two runs with two hits while Coira (two hits) and Amanda Demmerle (two RBI) also contributed with their bats.

The split moved STAC to 5-1 in the ECC and 12-8 overall. D'Youville is now 3-5 in the conference and 9-19 overall. STAC next hosts Molloy University on Tuesday (April 4) in an ECC twinbill at Spartan Field with first pitch scheduled for 2:30 p.m.