By Jim Fenton

BRIDGEWATER, Mass. -- The Bridgewater State University and Salem State University softball teams were unable to complete the opener of a scheduled doubleheader due to rain Saturday afternoon.

The Bears were holding a 9-7 lead over the Vikings, who were batting in the top of the sixth inning, when the game was halted due to the weather conditions at Alumni Park.

The completion of game one followed by game two will take place at a later date. Please check bsubears.com for schedule updates.

BSU (8-10, 1-1 in the Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference) has a non-conference doubleheader at home Monday at 3 p.m. against Vermont State Lyndon.

Salem State (8-8, 4-0 MASCAC) travels to Southern Maine for a doubleheader on Tuesday at 4 p.m.

The Bears fell behind, 1-0, in the top of the first when Samantha Gaona (Billerica, Mass.) singled to right, scoring Alaina Giuliano (Malden, Mass.), who had walked and moved up on a groundout.

BSU took a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the firsts as Emily Marcotte (North Dighton, Mass.) reached on a bunt single and stole second before scoring on a triple to right by Makayla Ansell (Menifee, Calif.). A groundout by Janet Jolly (Raynham, Mass.) brought in Ansell.

Salem State tied the game in the second as Dawn Eisnor (Medford, Mass.) singled to left and eventually scored on a groundout by Payton Jeffers (Holly Ridge, N.C.).

BSU moved back in front, 4-2, in the second inning as Ansell's single up the middle scored Kailey Collins-Fiore (LaGrange, N.Y.), who had doubled, and Marcotte, who reached when a throw was mishandled.

The Vikings closed to 4-3 in the third as Gaona was hit by a pitch, stole second and scored on a single to center by Eisnor.

Salem State then took a 7-4 lead by scoring four runs in the fourth.

Jeffers doubled to left and scored on two wild pitches for the first run. Giuliano reached on an infield hit, stole second and went to third on a wild pitch before scoring on a single to right-center by Isabella Perrotti (Winthrop, Mass.).

Paige Souza (New Bedford, Mass.) tripled to right for a run and Emily Henning (Grafton, Mass.) doubled to left-center.

The Bears answered with a three-run fourth inning for a 7-7 tie.

Angelina Lynch (Taunton, Mass.) singled, stole second and scored on a pair of errors. After Katie Tobin (Chestnut Hill, Mass.) walked, pinch runner Savanah DuBois (New Bedford,
Mass.) stole second and scored on an error. Jolly brought in a run with a groundout.

The Bears broke the tie in the fifth inning with two runs.

Victoria Becker (Abington, Mass.) doubled to left and Riley Fitzgerald (Swansea, Mass.) walked. Becker was out at third on a fielder's choice by Lynch, and with two outs, Collins-Fiore singled to center to score Fitzgerald.

Lynch stole third base and scored on a throw.

McKayla Cusack (West Haven, Conn.) started for BSU and worked into fourth inning. Olivia Hargreaves (Weare, N.H.) struck out five and allowed one run in 2 1/3 innings of relief before the game was halted with two outs in the top of the sixth inning.

Marcotte, Ansell, Becker and Collins had two hits each for BSU while Salem State, which made six errors, received two hits from Gaona and Eisnor.