Game One Box Score | Game Two Box Score
NORTON, Mass. -- The Bridgewater State College softball team split a doubleheader with Wheaton College this afternoon at Clark Field in Norton.
Sophomore Kristen Hunt's (Milford, CT) solo
home run snapped a fifth-inning tie and pushed Wheaton to a 9-4
victory against the visiting Bears in the opener. The Bears
downed the Lyons in the nightcap, 10-2, in six innings to earn the
split. Wheaton is now 9-7, while Bridgewater State moved
to 11-3.
Senior Stacey Kelleher's (Brockton, MA) two-out
RBI double in the first inning put the Lyons on top in the first
contest before classmate Brady Benton (Concord,
NH) stole home as part of a two-run third that made it 3-0.
After putting runners on second and third with one out in each of
the first and third frames but coming away empty, the Bears battled
back to tie the contest. Junior Meghan Noyes
(Stoughton, MA) led off the fourth with a solo home run, and
seniors Allie LeBlanc (Somerset, MA) and
Rachael Sprague (Duxbury, MA) notched consecutive
run-scoring hits with two down in the fifth.
Hunt, however, slammed a pitch toward right center for her
first long ball of the year leading off the bottom of the fifth,
giving the Lyons a 4-3 edge, and the hosts tacked on five runs on
three hits the next inning. Hunt laced a two-run double in the
frame, while Kelleher and sophomores Nicole DeRosa
(Greenwich, CT) and Marissa Hobocan (Shelton, CT)
each drove in a run.
Hunt finished the contest a triple shy of the cycle, going 3-for-4
with three runs and three RBI. Kelleher plated a pair of runs,
Benton swiped two bases, freshman Amanda Poplaski
(North Reading, MA) scored twice, and classmate Valerie
Tratner (Forest Hills, NY) drew two bases on balls.
Freshman righty Lesley Warn (Portland, ME) went
the distance for the win, allowing four earned runs on seven hits
with three strikeouts.
Bear sophomore Tracey Sanko (Windsor, CT) was
2-for-2 with two runs, two walks and two steals, while classmate
Heather McPherson (Mansfield, MA) added two hits.
Senior Alyssa Verronneau (Acushnet, MA) suffered
the loss, yielding three earned runs in five-plus innings.
Bridgewater State jumped out quickly in game two, as an error and
sophomore Bridget Engwer's (Wrentham, MA) RBI
single made it 2-0 in the second before LeBlanc hit a two-run homer
in the third. Wheaton threatened in the third, but a two-out,
based-loaded opportunity went unanswered.
The visitors added six runs on five hits in the sixth inning, with
Sprague's three-run home run the big blow. Wheaton received a
run-scoring single from senior Lynn Cotto
(Brookfield, CT) and an RBI groundout by freshman Mary
Fay (Stoughton, MA) in the bottom of the frame.
Cotto and Hunt each went 2-for-3 in game two, while junior
Andrea Bagley (Foxboro, MA) yielded five earned
runs in six innings to receive the loss.
Sprague led the Bears by going 3-for-4 with three RBI and two runs,
LeBlanc was 2-for-4 with three RBI and two runs, and Engwer
finished 2-for-3 with two RBI. Noyes and freshman Michaela
Ferreira (Fall River, MA) each added two hits.
Junior Jamie Ducinski (Duxbury, MA) did not allow an earned run during a six-inning, complete-game effort. Ducinski scattered eight hits, walked two and struck out four as she improved to 2-0 on the season.