WORCESTER, Mass. – Bridgewater State University hurler Kelly McCarthy (Burlington, Mass.) homered, had six hits, drove in five runs and won both ends of a doubleheader as the visiting Bears swept a twinbill with Clark University in non-conference softball action at O'Brien Field on Friday afternoon.
The Bears (7-5) blanked the Cougars in the opener, 6-0, and completed the sweep with a 10-2 win in six innings in game two.
McCarthy (6-2) hurled a complete game, three-hit shutout to lead the Bears to game one victory. She did not issue a walk and fanned eight.
At the plate, McCarthy belted her second home run of the season and sixth of her career as she went 3-for-4 with a run and two RBI.
Tara McCann (Fall River, Mass.) also highlighted the BSU offense in the opener as she finished 3-for-4 with a double and four RBI.
McCann singled home a run on the first and then scored on McCarthy's two-run blast. McCann extended the Bears' lead to 5-0 with a two-run single in the second and capped off the scoring with an RBI double in the seventh.
Courtney Leddy (Saugus, Mass.) went 1-for-3 with a hit by pitch and scored two runs.
In game two, McCarthy was strong again in the circle and at the plate for the Bears. She had three hits and three RBI and went all six innings, allowing six hits and two runs while striking out five.
The Bears used a huge third inning in which they sent 12 batters to the plate and scored seven runs on seven hits to help complete the sweep.
Clark actually held a 1-0 lead after a bases loaded fielder's choice by Rachel Kraytenberg (Londonderry, N.H.) scored Orangio who made an excellent slide to get under the tag of BSU backstopTabitha Domeij (Westborough, Mass.).
Meanwhile, Cougar starter Brenna Foley (Charlton, Mass.) was in command, retiring the first six batters she faced and didn't allow a hit until the top of the fourth when McCann led off with a double. That hit ignited a Bear offensive attack that saw five different players drive in runs with base hits and chase Foley from the game.
Clark tried to claw back in the fifth when Orangio singled, advanced to second on a groundout and then scored on Mackey's single to left.
Bridgewater State put the game away with three more runs in the top of the sixth, highlighted by RBI singles by McCarthy and Krystina Flaherty (Burlington, Mass.).
Flaherty finished 2-for-4 with a run and two RBI, while Samantha LoPilato (Medford, Mass.) went 2-for-4 with two runs and an RBI. Leddy singled, walked and scored a pair of runs in four plate appearances.
The Bears return to the diamond on Tuesday afternoon when they host a doubleheader with Wheaton College starting at 3:00 PM.