HOBOKEN, N.J. – Sophomore pitcher Emily Trotman pitched her first-career no-hitter on Friday as the second-seeded St. John Fisher College softball team blanked third-seeded Alfred University, 3-0, in the opening round of the Empire 8 Championship at Weehawken Waterfront Park.  With the win, Fisher moved to 24-14 on the season while the Saxons fell to 20-19 overall.

Trotman was dealing all afternoon as the East Amherst native kept the Saxons guessing over seven innings of work. Trotman allowed just two walks in the win and finished the game with a pair of strikeouts to move to 20-8 on the season.  With the win, Trotman became just the fourth player in program history to notch 20 wins in a season.

After setting the side down in order to begin the game, Fisher scored the only runs it would need in the bottom of the first.  Senior Julia Sortisio inched closer to 200 career hits with a leadoff single up the middle before the Lancaster native took second on a wild pitch.  Maddy Pepke moved her to third with a single to left to put runners on the corners with no outs.  With Ashley Prince at the plate, Fisher showed bunt as both runners took off with Sortisio stealing home to give Fisher a 1-0 edge.  Sortisio's steal also made history as it moved the outfielder into a tie for first place on Fisher's career steals list with 38.

As the inning continued, Prince drew a walk before Sarah Kubik moved both runners up a bag with a sacrifice bunt.  With good speed on and one down, Sammie Torlish lined a base hit to left to score Pepke before the Saxons could retire the side. 

Holding a two-run advantage in the top of the third, Trotman found herself in a jam as the Saxons drew a pair walks and loaded the bases following a hit by pitch.  Undaunted, Trotman settled in and got the next hitter to fly out to right to end the threat and preserve the lead.

From there, Alfred was unable to touch Trotman as the Cardinals added an insurance run in the bottom of the sixth with Mary Claire Grosvenor picking up an RBI with a ground out to short that staked the Cardinals to a 3-0 lead.

Overall, Fisher tagged Alfred's ace for seven hits as Pepke and Torlish each went 2-for-3 in the win.  Sortisio, Prince, and Abby Flakus rounded out the offense with one hit each.

The Cardinals will advance to Saturday's winners' bracket where they will face the winner of top-seeded Stevens and fourth-seeded Nazareth at 11 a.m. at Weehawken Waterfront Park.  Alfred will play for its season at 1:30 p.m. on Saturday with the loser being eliminated from the Championship.