WORCESTER, Mass. -- The Bridgewater State College softball team split a doubleheader with Clark University this afternoon at O'Brien Field in Worcester. The Bears dropped the opener, 10-5, and then earned the split with a 3-2 victory in the nightcap.
Senior Julie Parnell (Webster, Mass.) belted a pair of homeruns, including her first grand-slam of the season, and sophomore Melissa Traft (Milton, Mass.) tossed a complete game with six strikeouts to lead Clark the 10-5 opening game win.Field.
Bridgewater jumped out to an early lead in the first inning. With two down, Meghan Noyes (Stoughton, Mass.) tripled to right field and later came home on Allie LeBlanc's (Somerset, Mass.) single to center to make it 1-0. C
lark (8-4) took the lead for good after a five-run second inning featuring an RBI hit from Chelsea Proulx (Franklin, N.H.) and Parnell's first round-tripper of the day, a grand-slam to left field, for a 5-1 advantage.
The Cougars plated three more runs in the third on Darcy Kurashige-Elliott's (Berkeley, Cali.) lead off homer to left field and run-producing hits from Lauren Blake (Oakland, Me.) and Parnell.
Parnell had three hits and seven RBI to lead Clark. Heather Warren (Upland, Cali.) and Blake each added three hits in the game.
LeBlanc led Bridgewater with three hits and an RBI, while Melissa McNamara (Stoughton, Mass.) collected two hits and drove in a run.
Traft (3-3) gave up three earned runs and walked one in seven innings. Jamie Ducinski (Duxbury, Mass.) took the loss for the Bears. She allowed five runs on five hits, walked three and fanned two in 1.1 innings of work.
Bridgewater (5-5) banged out 11 hits in the nightcap. The Bears struck first scoring a run on Nicole Hebert's (Taunton, Mass.) RBI hit in the top of the third.
Clark responded in the bottom half of the frame when Blake hit home Joanna Clark (Windham, Me.), who reached on a double, to tie it up (1-1). The Cougars tacked on another run (2-1) after Warren cracked her fourth homerun of the season in the fourth inning, but could not hold on for the win.
The visitors tied the game in the fifth and scored the game-winner in the sixth. Pinch-running for Stacy Capodiece (East Lyme, Conn.), who reached on an error, Bridget Engwer (Wrentham, Mass.) moved to second on a sacrifice bunt from Lindsey Allison (South Easton, Mass.), advanced to third on a passed ball, and came around to score the eventual game-winner on a double to centerfield from Rachael Sprague (Duxbury, Mass.).
Danielle Trull-Donahue (Stoughton, Mass.) and Tracey Sanko (Windsor, Conn.) collected three hits apiece for Bridgewater.
Alyssa Verronneau (Acushnet, Mass.) gave up four hits, struck out four and didn't issue a walk to pick up the win, while Sarah Carter (Worcester, Mass.) suffered her first loss of the season.
Clark will host WPI in a conference double-header on Friday (3 p.m.), while Bridgewater will travel to Babson College for a twinbill on Thursday (3:30 p.m.).